The KSE-100 Index kicked off the first day of the month marginally negative amid lacklustre activity as volumes lowered at the Pakistan Stock Exchange (PSX) on Friday.

After a volatile few sessions, the KSE-100 Index traded in a narrower band of around 400 points, hitting 45,000 intra-day.

However, it was unable to sustain the gains, and at close settled down by 27.90 points or 0.06% to close at 44,871.70.

“Moving forward, the market direction should be dictated by developments on the IMF front and possible improvement in macro indicators following corrective measures taken by the authorities,” said AKD Securities in its daily report.

Pakistan's stocks suffer worst month since pandemic-driven selloff in March 2020

“The FATF, due to meet later this month, and developments in relations with US, are likely to keep market volatile in the near term though we believe given the bi-polar global arrangements we find ourselves in, material implications are unlikely in any case,” it added.

Volume on the all-share index decreased significantly from 372.43 million on Thursday to 267.05 million on Friday. The value of shares traded also declined during the session, amounting to Rs9.02 billion from Rs13.8 billion on Thursday.

TPL Corp Limited was the volume leader with 15.30 million shares, followed by Byco Petroleum with 14.24 million shares, and Hascol Petrol with 14.18 million shares.

Shares of 561 companies were traded on Friday, of which 368 registered an increase, 178 recorded a fall, while 15 remained unchanged.