Karachi: The Pakistan Stock Exchange continued to have a positive trend at the second day of the business week; however, investors were cautious in taking new positions. The benchmark KSE-100 index came under some pressure after the initial bullishness but returned to the positive zone at the end of the session.
At the close of business, the KSE-100 Index closed at 171,153.16 points, up 268.58 points, or 0.16 percent. The index touched a high of 171,732.62, while its low was 170,902.75 points.
The market trend showed that investors remained keen on buying, but profit-taking at high levels limited the index’s initial momentum. However, buying in some large stocks related to cement, fertiliser and energy supported the market.
Analytically, the decline in global oil prices created some room for the Pakistani equity market. Lower global oil prices reduce concerns about inflation, external accounts and overall economic pressure to some extent. In addition, signs of a possible reduction in tensions between the US and Iran also affected investor confidence.
The prominent index support in the market came from LUCK, ATRL, FFC, MARI and EFERT. These companies collectively added about 254 points to the KSE-100 index. On the other hand, selling in some banking, technology and other sector shares limited the overall rally.
In terms of business activity, 692.88 million shares were traded in the all-share market, which is higher than the 576.26 million shares in the previous session. However, the total value of shares was Rs 20.10 billion, which is lower than the Rs 22.41 billion in the previous trading session.
A total of 494 companies were traded. Of these, 238 companies increased their shares, 213 decreased, while 43 remained unchanged. These figures show that there was overall buying in the market, but the attitude of investors was not uniformly aggressive.
Global oil prices, the situation in the Middle East, possible developments in US-Iran tensions and local economic indicators will remain important for the direction of the Pakistan Stock Market in the coming sessions. Investors will also take into account these factors, as well as the financial results of major sectors and the performance of companies.
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