PSX adds 139 points after a range-bound session

KARACHI: The Pakistan equity market remained in a green zone throughout the day on Tuesday to successfully manage to close above the psychological barrier of 42,000.

An analyst at Pearl Securities said that activities were seen in the banking and cement sectors which cumulatively added 123 points to the index.

“The banking deposits have shown a growth of 15 per cent to Rs22.2 trillion in August 2022 on account of strong overseas inflows. Similarly, the downtrend of commodity prices somehow gave support to the bourse,” he added.

“Going forward, we expect the market to take directions from the economic and sector news inflows. Therefore, we suggest our investors keep booking profit at a higher level,” he said.

The Pakistan Stock Exchange KSE-100 shares Index gained 139.05 points, or 0.33 per cent to close at 42,001.34 points. The KSE-30 shares Index gained 60.62 points, or 0.39 per cent, to close at 15,723.43 points.

An analyst at Arif Habib Limited said that the market witnessed another range-bound session today. “The market opened in a positive zone and continued to trade in a consolidated range as investors’ participation remained dull throughout the day due to weakening rupee against dollar. However, in the last trading hour value buying was noticed.”

As many as 324 scrips were active of which 145 advanced, 151 declined and 28 remained unchanged.

The ready market volumes stood at 118.51 million shares, compared with the turnover of 161.42 million shares in the last trading session.

The companies which reflected the highest gains included Sapphire Textile up Rs41.09 to close at Rs1,107.49/share, and Millat Tractors up Rs29.87 to close at Rs838.44/share.

The companies which reflected the most losses included Sapphire Fiber Rs94 to close at Rs1,166/share, and Siemens Pakistan down Rs37.33 to close at Rs696/share.

The highest volumes were witnessed in Hascol Petrol with a turnover of 10.21 million shares. The scrip gained 21 paisas to close at Rs6.81/share, followed by K-Electric with a turnover of 6.92 million shares. It shed 1 paisa to close at Rs3.21/share. Quice Food remained the third with a turnover of 5.41 million shares. It gained 66 paisas to finish at Rs4.53/share.