KARACHI: Pakistan Stock Exchange on Wednesday witnessed a rangebound session due to lackluster activity. The market remained in ranges throughout the day as it swung in both directions due to a lack of investors’ engagement.

The benchmark KSE-100 Index once again crossed 43,000 psychological level during the session to hit 43,098.94 points intraday high, however failed to sustain this momentum due to selling pressure and dropped at 42,729.35 points intraday low. The KSE-100 Index closed at 42,983.75 points with a net gain of 186.90 points or 0.44 percent.

Trading activity remained low as daily volumes on the ready counter decreased to 186.709 million shares as compared to 188.664 million shares traded Tuesday. The daily traded value on the ready counter declined to Rs 6.663 billion against Tuesday’s Rs 7.411 billion.

BRIndex100 inched up by 26.56 points or 0.62 percent to close at 4,339.74 points with total daily turnover of 146.240 million shares.

BRIndex30 increased by 159.73 points or 0.98 percent to close at 16,459.13 points with total daily trading volumes of 90.947 million shares.

Foreign investors also remained net buyers of shares worth $670,974. Total market capitalization increased by Rs 7 billion to Rs 6.868 trillion. Out of total 362 active scrips, 181 closed in negative and 156 in positive while the value of 25 stocks remained unchanged.

Unity Foods was the volume leader with 19.422 million shares however lost Rs 0.56 to close at Rs 18.36 followed by Hascol Petroleum that gained Rs 0.25 to close at Rs 8.04 with 16.148 million shares. TRG Pak increased by Rs 7.49 to close at Rs 148.33 with 11.501 million shares.

Faisal Spinning and Al-Abbas Sugar were the top gainers increasing by Rs 25.57 and Rs 20.00 respectively to close at Rs 366.57 and Rs 345.00 while Allawasaya Textile and Sapphire Fiber were the top losers declining by Rs 197.20 and Rs 87.00 respectively to close at Rs 2432.18 and Rs 1073.00.

“Another rangebound session was witnessed at the PSX due to lackluster activity,” an analyst at Arif Habib Limited said. The KSE-100 Index traded in ranges throughout the day as the market swung in both directions due to a lack of investor engagement. Main-board volumes considerably reduced, while third-tier companies continued to lead in terms of volumes.

Sectors contributing to the performance include Fertilizer (up 134.3 points), Technology & Communication (up 97.7 points), Inv. Banks / Inv. Cos. / Securities Cos. (up 24.0 points), Power Generation & Distribution (up 21.3 points), and Chemical (up 7.4 points).

BR Automobile Assembler Index lost 12.48 points or 0.14 percent to close at 8,992.02 points with total turnover of 2.740 million shares.

BR Cement Index inched down by 17.16 points or 0.38 percent to close at 4,482.53 points with 4.421 million shares.

BR Commercial Banks Index fell by 20.61 points or 0.24 percent to close at 8,499.85 points with 21.540 million shares.

BR Power Generation and Distribution Index gained 58.63 points or 0.85 percent to close at 6,933.27 points with 6.782 million shares.

BR Oil and Gas Index closed at 3,932.75 points, down 8.36 points or 0.21 percent with 38.415 million shares. BR Tech. & Comm. Index increased by 117.47 points or 2.53 percent to close at 4,755.21 points with 29.774 million shares.

Mubashir Anis Naviwala at JS Global Capital said that the KSE-100 Index witnessed another rangebound session where the index touched an intraday high of 43,097 points to close the day at 42,984 points, gaining 187 points.

Investor participation remained low today as well, with only 187 million shares being traded. Major contribution to volume came from UNITY (down 3.0 percent), HASCOL (up 3.2 percent), TRG (up 5.3 percent), SSGC (up 5.3 percent) and JSBL (up 6.7 percent).

Copyright Business Recorder, 2022