Pakistan stocks inch up in range-bound trading

Pakistan stocks inch up in range-bound trading

KARACHI: Pakistan stocks recorded a nominal increase on Friday in a range-bound trading session.

The benchmark KSE-100 index of Pakistan Stock Exchange (PSX) ended at 41,698 points from previous day’s closing of 41,651 points, showing an increase of 47 points.

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Analysts at Arif Habib Limited said another range-bound session was witnessed at the PSX during the day.

In the opening hour, the market remained sluggish throughout the trading session. However, as the second session resumed the volumes picked up after the Supreme Court declared agreement for the development of the Reko Diq mine legal, which helped boost interest in the E&P sector.

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Investors’ participation remained low on the mainboard with 3rd tier stocks continuing to dominate the volume board.

Sectors contributing to the performance include E&P’s (+39.5 points), Commercial Banks (+36.7 points), Engineering (+9.3 points), Food & Personal Care Products (+5.6 points), Technology & Communication (+4.1 points).

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Volumes decreased from 227.8 million shares to 191.4 million shares (-16.0 per cent DoD). The average traded value also decreased by 11.7 per cent to USD 16.0 million as against USD 18.1 million.

Stocks that contributed significantly to the volumes are WTL, MDTL, DFSM, HUMNL, and GGGL.

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