KARACHI: The Pakistan equity market witnessed a lacklustre and a slight volatile session on Tuesday, as the rupee is being hammered to the lowest levels, while no respite was seen in the international oil prices, which is consistently staying above $100/bbl.
An analyst at Pearl Securities said the market was in wait and see mode, pending the decision of the coalition government whether to carry on with the current setup or call general elections, “which is also vehemently being demanded by PTI. Consequently, the fluid situation on both fronts has put the secondary markets on the edge of elevating the yields.”
The Pakistan Stock Exchange (PSX) KSE-100 shares Index gained 0.14 per cent, or 58.74 points, to close at 42,726.06 points. The KSE-30 shares gained 0.21 per cent, or 33.46 points, to close at 16,246.38 points.
As many as 326 scrips were active, of which 171 advanced, 127 declined and 28 remained unchanged.
The ready market volumes stood at 197.9 million shares, compared with the turnover of 250.4 million shares in the last trading session.
An analyst at Arif Habib Limited said the market witnessed a lacklustre session due to continued economic concerns and political uncertainty.
“The KSE-100 Index remained range-bound today, as the investors’ participation remained dull over the dollar taking a flight against the rupee to make a historic high.”
Mubashir Anis at JS Global Capital said that the bourse witnessed range-bound activity due to a noise in the domestic politics and concerns over the economic outlook, which kept the investors from healthy participation.
“Going forward, we expect the range-bound activity to continue in the coming sessions, where we recommend the investors to avail any downside as an opportunity to buy in cement and textile sectors.”
The companies that reflected the highest gains included Mehmood Textile, up Rs51.8 to close at Rs880/share; and Sapphire Fiber, up Rs64.11 to close at Rs1.029/share.
The companies, which reflected the most losses included Sapphire Textile, down Rs81.8 to close at Rs1,010.2/share; and Shield Corporation, down Rs20.99 to close at Rs267.01/share.
The highest volumes were witnessed in WorldCall Telecom with a turnover of 21.9 million shares. The scrip gained three paisas to close at Rs1.48/share; followed by Cnergyico with a turnover of 15.7 million shares. It gained 11 paisas to close at Rs5.28/share. Lotte Chemical remained the third with a turnover of 11.4 million shares. It shed 60 paisas to finish at Rs26.4/share.