KARACHI: The Pakistan Stock Exchange (PSX) endured a volatile session on Tuesday, with indices swaying both ways in search of a clear direction before settling in the green.
Equity markets around the world showed a mixed trend, whereas crude oil prices inched lower from the previous close; WTI crude price declining 1.41pc to $64.48, while Brent crude price dropping 1.39pc to $67.91 (as at 3:49pm PST).
“The market traded in a narrow range after an increase of 2,500 points in the last two sessions. Leveraged positions continued causing jitters every now and then, which kept activity in tech stocks as well as food sector a bit volatile. Cement sector stocks went up earlier in the session, however, selling pressure brought the levels down by the end of session. Besides, cement, O&GMCs, steel and E&P sectors also witnessed selling pressure,” a report issued by Arif Habib Ltd read.
MARKET SUMMARY
The benchmark KSE-100 Index moved within a narrow range today, registering its intraday high at 44,910.93 (+144.34 points) and low at 44,545.43 (-221.16 points). It closed higher by 90.47 points at 44,857.06.
Among other indices, the KMI-30 Index lost 200.07 points to end at 74,062.13, whereas the KSE All Share Index added 15.74 points, settling at 30,663.31.
The overall market volumes declined from 455.55 million shares in the previous session to 408.37 million shares (-10pc). Average traded value also declined by 9pc, from $140.1 million to $127.5 million. Unity Foods Ltd (UNITY +5.95pc), Telecard Ltd (TELE +7.89pc) and TRG Pakistan Ltd (TRG +7.50pc) led the volume chart, exchanging 37.24 million, 35.61 million and 28.55 million shares, respectively.
Sectors that kept the benchmark index afloat included technology & communication (+131.86 points), banking (+62.23 points) and fertilizer (+38.19 points). Among the companies, TRG Pakistan Ltd (TRG +106.86 points), Habib Bank Ltd (HBL +28.67 points) and Meezan Bank Ltd (MEBL +19.22 points) remained the top contributors.
Adding 4.56pc to its cumulative market capitalization, the technology and communication ended as the session’s top performer, with Systems Ltd (SYS 1.80pc), NetSol Technologies Ltd (NETSOL 4.24pc) and Avanceon Ltd (AVN 7.33pc) posting decent gains.
Meanwhile, in a notification to the exchange, Pioneer Cement Ltd (PIOC -2.28pc) announced that its second turbine (12MW) of the newly-installed Coal Power Plant, having generation capacity of 24MW, has started power generation.
