KARACHI: The benchmark KSE-100 index of Pakistan Stock Exchange (PSX) gained 92 points on Thursday amid range bound trading.
The index closed at 44,267 points as against previous day’s closing of 44,175 points.
Analysts at Arif Habib Limited said that the market continued to remain range-bound due to the ambiguity over mini-budget.
Market opened in the green zone as State Bank of Pakistan (SBP) raised Rs158 billion through Pakistan Investment Bills (PIBs), hefty participation indicating yields to stay at the same level in the near future.
Market battled between the bulls and bears throughout the day due to lack of any key positive trigger.
Main board volumes remained dull whereas activity continued to move side-ways as market witnessed hefty volumes in the 3rd tier stocks.
Sectors contributing to the performance include Technology & Communication (+69.2 points), Inv. Banks / Inv. Cos. / Security Cos. (+12.3 points), Cement (+11.6 points) Vanaspati & Allied Industries (+6.5 points) and Power Generation & Distribution (+4.91).
Volumes increased from 151.8 million shares to 240.4 million shares (+58.4 per cent DoD). Traded value also increased by 22.1 per cent to reach US$ 45.0 million as against US$ 36.9 million.
Stocks that contributed significantly to the volumes include HUMNL, TRG, UNITY, SMBL and WTL.
