The Pakistan Stock Exchange’s (PSX) benchmark KSE-100 Index closed nearly flat on Friday after profit-taking wiped out more than 350 points the index had gained during the opening hours of trading.

The index started the session positive, hitting an intra-day high of 79,254.25.

However, investors resorted to profit-taking in the second half of the trading session, taking the index to an intra-day low of 78,917.29.

At close, the benchmark index settled at 78,897.73, marginally up by 34.38 points or 0.04%.

“Range-bound session was observed during the trading session as it traded between its intraday high of 391 points and intraday low of -54 points,” brokerage house Topline Securities said in its post-market report.

Positive contributions to the index came from KOHC, MARI, BAFL, NBP and MCB, as they cumulatively added 42 points to the index. Meanwhile, MEBL, ENGRO, FFC, HMB and NATF lost value to weigh down by 30 points, the report added.

Another brokerage house Ismail Iqbal Securities said the equity market closed the day relatively flat, as investors continued to seek a major catalyst, particularly positive news from the International Monetary Fund (IMF).

On Thursday, the KSE-100 closed flat after witnessing range-bound trading amid lack of fresh triggers.

On week-on-week basis, the KSE-100 gained by 0.52%.

“This gain can be attributed to CPI inflation number for the month of August 2024 that clocked in at 9.6% YoY as compared to 11.1% in July 2024,” Topline said.

Other major developments during the week were Pakistan’s trade deficit for August 2024 clocking in at $1.68 billion (down by 12% MoM) and T-Bill auction where participation of Rs1.618 trillion was observed with the government raising Rs835 billion against target of Rs700 billion and maturity of Rs385 billion; yields remained largely same, the brokerage house added.

Globally, Asian shares clung to tight ranges and the dollar nursed losses on Friday, with investors on tenterhooks ahead of US jobs data that could decide the size and speed of coming rate cuts in the world’s largest economy.

As of now, oil prices are staring down their worst week in more than a year to hover just above a critical chart level, with their near-term fate depending on the payrolls report due later in the day.

MSCI’s broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan edged 0.2% higher, having fallen 2.3% so far this week.

The Nikkei slipped 0.1% to be down 3.9% for the week.

Meanwhile, the Pakistani rupee registered marginal improvement against the US dollar, appreciating 0.04% in the inter-bank market on Friday. At close, the currency settled at 278.57, a gain of Re0.11 against the US dollar.

Volume on the all-share index decreased to 743.07 million from 770.52 million on Thursday.

The value of shares declined to Rs12.90 billion from Rs14.29 billion in the previous session.

WorldCall Telecom was the volume leader with 133.25 million shares, followed by Pace (Pak) Ltd with 80.98 million shares, and Fauji Foods Ltd with 46.70 million shares.

Shares of 444 companies were traded on Friday, of which 185 registered an increase, 201 recorded a fall, while 58 remained unchanged.