KARACHI: The Pakistan Stocks witnessed another dull trading session with low volumes on Thursday. However, the cutoff yields in the Pakistan Investment Bonds (PIBs) auction remained largely flat; thus, the index remained strong throughout the day.

Ahsan Mehanti at Arif Habib Corporation said the stocks close higher led by selected scrips across-the-board, as the investors weighed $1.5 billion Asian development Bank (ADB) loan approval for the energy sector reforms, surge in global crude oil prices and higher foreign direct investment (FDI) inflows.

“[The] large-scale manufacturing (LSM) growth of 3.56 per cent for July-November 2021 played a catalytic role in [the] bullish close.”

The Pakistan Stock Exchange KSE-100 shares Index gained 0.21 per cent, or 91.94 points, to close at 44,266.91 points. The KSE-30 shares Index gained 0.22 per cent, or 37.48 points, to close at 17,426.84 points.

As many as 357 scrips were active, of which 199 advanced, 135 declined and 23 remained unchanged. The ready market volumes stood at 240.42 million shares, compared with the turnover of 151.78 million shares in the last trading session.

An analyst at Arif Habib Limited said the market continued to remain range-bound due to the ambiguity over the mini-budget.

“[The] market opened in the green zone, as SBP [State Bank of Pakistan] raised Rs158 billion through PIBs, hefty participation indicating yields to stay at the same level in the near future.”

The market battled between the bulls and bears throughout the day due to the lack of any key positive trigger. The main board volumes remained dull, whereas the activity continued to move sideways as the market witnessed hefty volumes in the third tier stocks.

The companies, which reflected the highest gains included Sanofi Aventis, up Rs49.24 to close at Rs705.88/share; and Premium Textile, up Rs35 to close at Rs640/share.

The companies that reflected the most losses included Sapphire Fiber, down Rs57.31 to close at Rs812.1/share; and Mehmood Textile, down Rs49.25 to close at Rs607.5/share.

The highest volumes were witnessed in Hum Network with a turnover of 48.71 million shares. The scrip gained 66 paisas to close at Rs6.88/share; followed by TRG Pakistan with a turnover of 17.7 million shares. It gained Rs6.82 to close at Rs124.35/share. Unity Foods remained the third with a turnover of 18.72 million shares. It gained 54 paisas to finish at Rs27.69/share.