The Pakistan Stock Exchange (PSX) witnessed a range-bound session on Monday, as the benchmark KSE-100 Index closed almost flat amid directionless trading. The index, however, managed to retain its 57,000 level.
The KSE-100 swung in both directions for most of the trading session and managed to close in the green.
At close, the benchmark index settled at 57,077.96, up by only 15 points or 0.03%.
“Pakistan Equities had an interesting day where bullish and bearish forces fight whole day to put their rein on market direction and ultimately bulls successfully managed to claim the day,” brokerage house Topline Securities stated in its post-market report.
Aforesaid market behavior could be attributed to the first day of Nov-future contract rollover week commencement where over Rs18 billion of positions will get rolled over by Friday, it added.
“This roll over activity may likely keep recent bull run in check for the next couple of sessions. In addition, over 4% rally in international oil prices over the Friday evening also put some weigh on cyclical stocks strong momentum, during the trading hour,” Topline Securities said.
According to the brokerage house, some profit-taking was observed in cement, E&P, tech, fertilizer and power sector stocks as LUCK, OGDC, SYS, ENGRO, PPL, and HUBC lost 154 points, cumulatively. On the other hand, DAWH, UBL, and MEBL contributed positively to the index by adding 109 points.
Another brokerage house Ismail Iqbal Securities said the market witnessed volatility on Monday and closed positive as the rollover week commenced.
On Friday, the PSX had witnessed a bearish session on as the KSE-100 Index closed lower by 334 points amid profit-taking.
In a relatable development of Monday, Pakistan’s current account posted a deficit of $74 million in October 2023, showed data released by the State Bank of Pakistan (SBP). On a yearly basis, the CAD was significantly lower, i.e. over 91%, than the $849 million recorded in the same month last year.
Also, Pakistan’s Real Effective Exchange Rate (REER), a measure of the value of a currency against a weighted average of several foreign currencies, witnessed a significant increase as it clocked in at 98.6 in October 2023, up from 91.7 in September 2023, SBP data showed.
Meanwhile, the Pakistani rupee maintained its upward trajectory against the US dollar for the third consecutive session, as it appreciated 0.19% in the inter-bank market on Monday. As per the SBP, the local currency settled at 285.97, an increase of Re0.53.
Volume on the all-share index decreased to 718.2 million from 901.5 million a session before.
The value of shares declined to Rs16.6 billion from Rs23.4 billion in the previous session.
K-Electric Ltd. remained the volume leader with 89.8 million shares, followed by WorldCall Telecom with 64.6 million shares and Fauji Foods Ltd with 50.2 million shares.
Shares of 377 companies were traded on Monday, of which 202 registered an increase, 161 recorded a fall, while 14 remained unchanged.