PSX closes higher after range-bound session

• The Pakistan stock market closed in the green zone on Thursday after observing a volatile session.
• The KSE-100 Index remained under pressure throughout the session.
• Value buying was seen in the final hour of trading, which led the index to close in the Green.

KARACHI: The Pakistan stock market closed in the green zone on Thursday after observing a volatile session where the KSE-100 Index remained under pressure throughout the session.

An analyst at Pearl Securities said that political temperature reached a boiling point well before the official start of the long march, as the government plans to tackle the crowd with heavy police presence.

“Additionally, The DG ISPR and DG ISI press conference on the current political scenario added to the cruciality of the situation. Despite dollar inflows from the Asian Development Bank, the rupee depreciated in the interbank foreign exchange market,” he added.

“The result season is also overshadowed by political unrest, while the investors took a cautious approach despite being in a rollover week. Therefore, going forward, we expect the market to remain under pressure. Hence, we recommend our investors adopt the “Sell on Strength” strategy in the upcoming sessions.”

The Pakistan Stock Exchange KSE-100 shares Index gained 62.83 points, or 0.15 per cent to close at 41,602.86 points. The KSE-30 shares Index gained 16.44 points, or 0.11 percent to close at 15,290.00 points.

An analyst at Arif Habib Limited said that a range-bound session was witnessed at the bourse, where the KSE-100 Index started off in the green, but the continuous political unrest kept investors away.

“Value buying was seen in the final hour of trading, which led the index to close in the green. Volumes remained respectable due to rollover week, with third-tier stocks continuing to lead in terms of volume,” he added.

As many as 337 scrips were active of which 150 advanced, 168 declined and 19 remained unchanged.

The ready market volumes stood at 203.56 million shares, compared with the turnover of 265.42 million shares in the last trading session.

The companies which reflected the highest gains included Sapphire Fiber up Rs68.69 to close at Rs1,177.54/share, and Colgate Palm up Rs44.36 to close at Rs2,068.18/share.

The companies which reflected the most losses included Bata (Pak) down Rs134.88 to close at Rs2,100/share, and Archroma Pakistan down Rs35.06 to close at Rs532.01/share.

The highest volumes were witnessed in WorldCall Telecom with a turnover of 22.93 million shares. The scrip shed 2 paisas to close at Rs1.40/share, followed by Dewan Motors with a turnover of 16.81 million shares. It gained 22 paisas to close at Rs9.43/share. TRG Pakistan remained the third with a turnover of 12.54 million shares. It gained Rs5.11 to close at Rs114.88/share.

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