LAHORE: The Pakistan Stock Exchange (PSX) opened the week after the extended weekend flat. Investors resorted to a cautious approach as the general elections draw closer despite the visit of the Federal Minister for Finance and Economic affairs Dr Shamshad Akhtar to the exchange on Monday. She offered her support for the development of the capital markets and directed the PSX board form a committee to propose a 5-year roadmap.
The KSE 100 index traded in a narrow range but swayed on both sides. The index touched an intraday high of 43,825.11 early morning after a 144.43 point rise and later dropped 169.03 points to touch day’s low of 43,511.65. It settled flat, up by only 2.16 points.
The KMI 30 index put up a similar show, up 390.32 points and down 269.91 points, and closed 34.90 points in the red. The KSE All Share Index ended down 52.80 points with 144 advancers and 149 decliners.
The market volumes were recorded at 123.27 million. Power Cement Limited (POWER +4.53 per cent) was on top of the volume chart. The script saw 24.64 million shares being traded. TRG Pakistan Limited (5.00 per cent), at its upper cap, was next on the list with 7.52 million shares exchanged. Engro Fertilizer Limited (1.98 per cent) followed by a volume of 5.32 million.
State Bank of Pakistan (SBP) named domestic systemically important banks (D-SIBs) in line with the D-SIBs introduced in April. The three big banks which have met the criteria are to comply with enhanced supervisory and regulatory standards considering huge size of their transactions volume and to strengthen their resilience to shocks. The list includes Habib Bank Limited (HBL -0.79 per cent), United Bank Limited (UBL +0.06 per cent) and National Bank of Pakistan (NBP +0.63 per cent).
