KARACHI: Pakistan Stock Exchange on Wednesday witnessed a dull session and closed almost flat as the investors remained cautious on their concerns regarding inflation, currency depreciation and the anticipation of a hike in the upcoming monetary policy. The benchmark KSE-100 Index hit 47,588.24 points intraday high and 47,007.66 points intraday low before closing at 47,418.63 points, up only 0.73 points.

The daily trading volumes on ready counter stood at 188.680 million shares as compared to 185.753 million shares traded on Tuesday while total daily traded value on ready counter increased to Rs 8.794 billion against previous session’s Rs 6.223 billion. BRIndex100 inched up by 4.0 points or 0.08 percent to close at 4,800.15 points with total daily turnover of 162.740 million shares.

BRIndex30 gained 29.63 points or 0.17 percent to close at 17,049.93 points with total daily trading volumes of 109.350 million shares.

Foreign investors however remained net buyers of shares worth $383,430. The market capitalization declined by Rs 8 billion to Rs 7.065 trillion. Out of total 324 active scrips, 189 closed in negative and 106 in positive while the value of 29 stocks remained unchanged.

WorldCall Telecom was the volume leader with 20.986 million shares however lost Rs 0.02 to close at Rs 1.27 followed by OGDC that gained Rs 0.55 to close at Rs 100.06 with 16.050 million shares. JS Bank closed at Rs 5.92, down Rs 0.07 with 12.258 million shares.

Gadoon Textile and Mari Petroleum were the top gainers increasing by Rs 14.99 and Rs 9.80 respectively to close at Rs 214.99 and Rs 1636.96 while Allawasaya Textile and Pak Services were the top losers declining by Rs 130.00 and Rs 40.28 respectively to close at Rs 1670.00 and Rs 684.72.

Muhammad Waqar Iqbal at JS Global Capital said investors remained concerned regarding inflation, currency devaluation, and the anticipation of a hike in the upcoming monetary policy. The Benchmark KSE-100 index closed flat at 47,419, gaining 0.7 points.

Traded volume stood at 189 million shares with WTL (down 1.6 percent), OGDC (up 0.6 percent), JSBL (down 1.2 percent), DFML (up 3.1 percent) and PPL (up 0.5 percent) being the highest contributors.

BR Automobile Assembler Index decreased by 48.96 points or 0.55 percent to close at 8,901.83 points with total turnover of 10.761 million shares.

BR Cement Index lost 32.76 points or 0.66 percent to close at 4,930.86 points with 6.065 million shares.

BR Commercial Banks Index increased by 78.53 points or 0.71 percent to close at 11,136.30 points with 36.835 million shares.

BR Power Generation and Distribution Index gained 55.43 points or 0.61 percent to close at 9,207.43 points with 22.217 million shares.

BR Oil and Gas Index inched up by 13.56 points or 0.31 percent to close at 4,436.80 points with 36.070 million shares.

BR Tech. & Comm. Index closed at 3,969.71 points, down 30.84 points or 0.77 percent with 30.350 million shares.

An analyst at Topline Securities said that Pakistan’s equities closed flat at 47,418 points; after witnessing a range-bound trading session. Throughout the trading hours, the benchmark KSE-100 index floated in a narrow range of 580 points (a high of plus 170 and a low of minus 410 points, respectively).

During the day, Bank AL Habib Limited (BAHL) declared an interim dividend of Rs 4.50 per share better than market expectation.

The Bank, Technology, and Cement sectors exerted negative pressure on the index as MCB, PSEL, SYS, DAWH, and MLCF collectively lost 90 points. On the other hand, BAHL, HUBC, and HBL collectively gained 125 points due to increased buying interest in these stocks.

Copyright Business Recorder, 2023