The Pakistan Stock Exchange (PSX) witnessed a range-bound session on Monday with the benchmark KSE-100 Index ending with a marginal drop, whereas the volume of shares traded improved from the previous close.

At close on Monday, the KSE-100 index declined 0.20% or 85.87 points to close at 41,862.29.

KSE-100 extends gains, rises 0.29%

Indices kicked off the session in the upward direction and the KSE-100 Index reached an intra-day high of 42,136, up by 188.69 points. It then slipped lower for most part of the day.

Automobile, fertiliser and power generation sectors closed in the green while cement, chemical and oil and gas saw a sell-off.

A report from Arif Habib Limited stated that a range-bound session was witnessed at the PSX due to mounting inflation, economic and political concerns.

“No materialisation of funds from friendly nations kept sentiments in check.

“The benchmark KSE-100 index observed a volatile session as investors opted to remain sideways due to continuous appreciation of US dollar against Pak rupee,” it added.

On the economic front, the decline in rupee persisted for the seventh successive session and the local currency shed Rs1.64 or 0.71% to close at Rs229.82.

On the corporate front, the bourse announced the recipients of the Top 25 Companies Awards for the year 2021.

Sectors driving the benchmark KSE-100 downwards included cement (29.41 points), food & personal care products (20.77 points) and chemical (17.14 points).

Volume on the all-share index ticked up to 161.4 million from 146.6 million on Friday. On the other hand, the value of shares traded declined to Rs5.84 billion from Rs7.13 billion recorded in the previous session.

HBL Total Treasury ETF was the volume leader with 45.1 million shares, followed by TRG Pakistan with 15.7 million shares and WorldCall Telecom with 9.9 million shares.

Shares of 323 companies were traded on Monday, of which 102 registered an increase, 203 recorded a fall, and 18 remained unchanged.