KARACHI: The Pakistan stocks moved both ways, as the National Assembly session was rescheduled for Wednesday for the approval of the mini-budget.

However, the index managed to close in the green territory, as global crude oil prices rose, amid limited impact of the Omicron virus on global demand, dealers said.

“Investors were cherry picking stocks for the new-year, which resulted in sustaining the participants’ interest throughout the session,” an analyst at Pearl Securities said.

The KSE-100 shares index gained 0.3 per cent, or 130.3 points, to close at 44,043.74 points, while the KSE-30 shares index gained 0.33 per cent, or 56.31 points, to close at 17,288.79 points.

As many as 356 scripts were active, of which 163 advanced, 168 declined and 25 remained unchanged.

The ready market volumes stood at 143.4 million shares compared with the turnover of 114.6 million shares in the last trading session.

An analyst at Arif Habib Limited said that the market continued to remain volatile amid the roll-over week and the speculations surrounding the upcoming mini-budget. “Profit-taking was witnessed in the first trading hour, while the market battled between the bulls and bears throughout the day,” he added.

The main board volumes remained on a dull note due to the lack of any positive trigger, whereas activity continued to remain side-ways as market witnessed hefty volumes in the third tier stocks.

“The market remained lackluster over rising concerns regarding the political situation, resumption of the IMF [International Monetary Fund] programme and announcement of [the] mini-budget,” Muhammad Mubashir at JS Global Capital said.

“Going forward, we expect this range-bound activity to continue. We recommend investors to avail any downside as an opportunity to buy in the Banking and E&P [Energy and Petroleum] sectors,” he added.

The companies reflecting highest gains include Colgate Palmolive up Rs141.01 to close at Rs2455/share and Sapphire Textile up Rs61.5 to close at Rs881.5/share.

While the companies reflecting most losses include Nestle Pakistan down Rs100 to close at Rs5500/share and Sanofi Aventis down Rs61.17 to close at Rs876.9/share.

Highest volumes were witnessed in Unity Foods with a turnover of 18.87 million shares, as the scrip shed 42 paisas to close at Rs1.13/share. TRG Pakistan was second with a turnover of 12.4 million shares, as it gained Rs5.24 to close at Rs118.21/share. Hum Network was third with a turnover of 11.7 million shares, gaining 22 paisas to finish at Rs6.72/share.