Stocks close in green amid thin trade

• Stock market traded between hope and despair.
• KSE-100 index gains 30.95 points to close at 42,761.19.
• Shares of 334 companies were traded during the session.

KARACHI: Pakistan Stock Exchange (PSX) saw lacklustre activity on Monday but the benchmark KSE-100 index, after oscillating in a narrow band, managed to close in the green zone.

Sceptical investors adopted a cautious approach amid the continuous depreciation of the Pakistani rupee against the US dollar, mainly owing to the growing risk of defaulting and the absence of a timeframe regarding incoming financing from Saudi Arabia and China, which kept the mainboard stocks under pressure.

On the contrary, investor confidence received a boost on news of Pakistan’s current account deficit data which yawned $204 million in October 2022 as compared to September’s $363 million.

Owing to the mixed sentiments, the benchmark KSE-100 index moved in a narrow range of an intra-day high and low of 42,853.94 and 42,664.53 points, respectively to finally settle with decent gains.

The market, after opening on a positive note, witnessed fluctuations since the beginning of the session. The bourse traded between hope and despair, which eventually let loose the bulls who dragged the bourse into the green.

In initial trading, the index touched an intra-day high of 42,853.94 points, but it soon came down and remained in the red till midday. However, a buying spree in the final hour propelled the index into positive territory.

The benchmark KSE-100 share index gained 30.95 points or 0.07% to close at 42,761.19 points.

Arif Habib Limited in its post-session commentary noted that a range-bound session was witnessed at the PSX today.

The KSE-100 index opened on a positive note but a lack of investors’ confidence dragged the index to trade in a narrow range. Mainboard volumes remained dry although decent volumes were observed in the third-tier stocks.

Sectors contributing to the performance included technology and communication (+97 points), commercial banks (+17 points), miscellaneous (+9.7 points), transport (+6.4 points), and oil and gas marketing companies (+6 points).

Shares of 334 companies were traded during the session. At the close of trading, 150 scrips closed in the green, 156 in the red, and 28 remained unchanged.

Overall trading volumes declined to 132.94 million shares compared with Friday’s tally of 189.28 million. The value of shares traded during the day was Rs4.57 billion.

Worldcall Telecom was the volume leader with 14.12 million shares traded, losing Rs0.04 to close at Rs1.41. It was followed by TRG Pakistan with 10.23 million shares traded, gaining Rs5.02 to close at Rs146.57 and Unity Foods with 17.13 million shares gaining Rs0.41 to close at Rs17.13.