Another lacklustre session was witnessed at the Pakistan Stock Exchange (PSX) on Thursday and the KSE-100 Index settled 0.14% higher after a rather sideways session.
Persistent rupee depreciation coupled with weakening macroeconomic cues dampened interest of investors in the equity market. As a result, the KSE-100 index fell 0.14% or 58.74 points to close at 41,824.79.
Trading began upward before weak investor sentiments triggered a selling spell and erased the gains. The market fell to an intra-day low after midday. A fresh buying spree towards the end, however, pulled the KSE-100 Index into the green zone.
KSE-100 drops 0.23% as volume falls below 100mn
Cement sector outshined and closed with gains however, automobile and banking segments ended the day with a loss. The two oil sectors closed the day on a mixed note.
A report from Capital Stake stated that investors of the PSX witnessed another monotonous session on Thursday.
Indices slipped lower and lower for most part of the day until finally closing flat, whereas volumes increased from last close, it said.
Arif Habib Limited, in its report, cited that another slow session was witnessed at PSX as rupee continued its devaluation against US dollar.
The market continued to trade sideways after opening in the positive zone although economic and political unrest kept the investors on the sidelines.
Volumes remained dry across the main board however value buying was recorded in the last trading hour, it said.
On the economic front, rupee lost Rs2 or 0.90% against the US dollar on day-on-day basis ending the day at Rs225.42.
Fifth successive loss: rupee depreciates to settle at 225.42 against US dollar
Sectors lifting the benchmark KSE-100 higher included cement (96.44 points), technology and communication (20.76 points) and textile composite (9.66 points).
Volume on the all-share index ticked up to 108.7 million from 92.9 million on Wednesday. On the other hand, the value of shares traded rose to Rs4.39 billion from Rs3.16 billion recorded in the previous session.
Maple Leaf was the volume leader with 8.4 million shares, followed by Lotte Chemical with 6.7 million shares and Hascol with 5.5 million shares.
Shares of 320 companies were traded on Thursday, of which 145 registered an increase, 151 recorded a fall, and 24 remained unchanged.