Subdued activity was witnessed at the bourse on the first day of the week, with the benchmark KSE-100 trading in a narrow range to close negative with both volume and value registering notable decrease.

At close on Monday, the index decreased 204.95 points or 0.46% to end at 43,913.44.

“Market performance is likely to remain range-bound given the year-end phenomenon where the volumes appear to ease-off slightly before the new year,” said AKD Securities.

“The market is also likely to closely watch the developments related to announcement of mini-budget, and the secondary market yield movements where the central bank through its recent open market operations flushed banking industry with liquidity which helped bring down the yields on GoP papers by upto 80bps.”

KSE-100 slips another 0.34% as year-end approaches

On the economic front, newly-elected senator Shaukat Tarin took oath as Federal Minister at a ceremony in Aiwan-e-Sadr, Islamabad on Monday. Meanwhile, the government would also introduce the amended Finance, and State Bank of Pakistan (SBP) autonomy bills in Parliament for approval on Tuesday.

Sectors dragging the benchmark index lower included oil and gas exploration (62.79 points), technology and communication (55.03 points) and power generation and distribution (34.00 points).

Volume declined significantly, clocking in at a meagre 114.67 million on the all-share index, down from 223.38 million on Friday. The value of shares traded decreased to Rs4.42 billion, down from Rs7.34 billion.

Arif Habib Limited expects KSE-100 to make history next year

Cnergyico PK was the volume leader with 10.88 million shares, followed by TRG Pakistan Limited with 9.51 million shares, and Unity Foods Limited with 9.26 million shares.

Shares of 342 companies were traded on Monday, of which 116 registered an increase, 196 recorded a fall, and 30 remained unchanged.