Pakistan stocks end up amid volatile trading

KARACHI: Pakistan stocks ended slightly up on Tuesday amid volatile trading observed during the day.

The benchmark KSE-100 index of Pakistan Stock Exchange (PSX) ended 43,928 points from previous day’s closing of 43,902 points, showing an increase of 26 points.

Analysts at Arif Habib Limited said that another volatile day observed at PSX as index opened in the negative zone due to political unrest and devaluation of PKR against US Dollar.

During the second hour of trading, value buying was observed which led the KSE-100 index to stay in the positive zone as rally was witnessed in the cements and fertilizer sector. In the last trading hour, across the board profit taking was witnessed.

Analysts at Topline Securities said that Pakistan equities closed on a slight positive note where benchmark KSE-100 Index settled at 43,928 level (up 0.06 per cent).

Range bound activity has been witnessed over uncertain political conditions led the market to make an intraday high of 387 points however this positivity did not sustained and profit taking has been witnessed in the second half.

Sectors contributing to the performance include Banks (+49.9 points), Chemicals (+41.6 points), Fertilizer (+30.8 points), Technology (+10.7 points) and Investment Banks (+9.5 points).

Volumes decreased from 170.5 million shares to 115.6 million shares (-32.2 per cent DoD). Average traded value also decreased 16.6 per cent to reach US$ 24.7 million as against US$ 29.7 million.

Stocks that contributed significantly to the volumes are TELE, TPLP, EPCL, GGL and WTL.