The Pakistan Stock Exchange (PSX) witnessed a muted session on Friday and the KSE-100 Index rose 0.38% in the midst of upward and downward pressures.

Volatility remained evident throughout the day owing to deteriorating economic and political ecosystem of the country.

At close, the KSE-100 Index was up 157.11 points or 0.38% to settle at 41,599.18.

KSE-100 slides 0.94% owing to volatile political situation

Following an upward open, uncertainty gripped the market and it fell to intra-day low in initial hours. At this point, a buying spree helped the market to close first session with a gain. Second session saw added volatility but still the KSE-100 Index closed in the green.

Automobile, cement, chemical, banking and oil sectors saw renewed buying activity while fertiliser space ended day on a mixed note.

A report from Arif Habib Limited stated that the week closed off in green at the PSX.

“The opening session was a volatile one as investors remained cautious owing to the political uncertainty in the country mostly trading in the red,” the report said. “However, in the second session the bulls mustered up some courage and took fresh positions to add value to their portfolios particularly in the pharmaceutical sector as the KSE-100 ended the trading session in green with decent volumes across the board.”

A report from Capital Stake stated that bulls of the PSX reappeared on last trading session of the week.

Indices showed mixed performance while volumes appreciated from last close, the report said.

On the economic front, rupee remained at the receiving end against the US dollar for the third successive session, depreciating Re0.2 or 0.07% in the inter-bank market on Friday to close at 285.82.

Sectors driving the benchmark KSE 100 index forward included oil and gas exploration (53.30 points), cement (25.22 points) and miscellaneous (20.88 points).

Volume on the all-share index rose to 120.4 million from 101.3 million on Thursday, while the value of shares traded jumped to Rs3.3 billion from Rs3 billion recorded in the previous session.

WorldCall Telecom was the volume leader with 20 million shares followed by Air Link Communication with 6.1 million shares and Searle with 4.9 million shares.

Shares of 315 companies were traded on Friday, of which 172 registered an increase, 115 recorded a fall and 28 remained unchanged.