KARACHI: The stock market ended down by 14 points on Tuesday amid range bound trading activities during the day.
The benchmark KSE-100 index of Pakistan Stock Exchange (PSX) closed at 42,102 points as against 42,115 points showing a decline of 14 points.
Analysts at Arif Habib Limited said that the market remained range bound with an oscillation of +119 points and -167 points and closing the session -14 points.
Cement sector stocks bounced on the news of further investment in Cement sector in Punjab, however, close of session saw selling pressure that brought the prices down. Banking sector performed relatively better with growing interest in NBP, MCB and UBL, whereas trading volumes also improved in the previous sessions despite consistent selling from foreign investors. International crude prices stay muted which became the reason for consolidation in E&P sector stocks.
Tech stocks continued the trailblazing performance, with NETSOL trading near upper circuit and strong interest in TRG despite the price coming down. Among scrips, MLCF topped the volumes with 31.6 million shares, followed by FFL (23.1 million) and TRG (22.5 million).
Sectors contributing to the performance include Cement (+48 points), Banks (+35 points), Engineering (+16 points), E&P (-37 points) and Technology (-27 points).
Volumes increased from 380.5 million shares to 409.6 million shares (+8 percent DoD). Average traded value also increased by 3 percent to reach US$ 115.4 million as against US$ 111.8 million.
Stocks that contributed significantly to the volumes include MLCF, FFL, TRG, HASCOL and UNITY, which formed 29 percent of total volumes.
Stocks that contributed positively to the index include MLCF (+19 points), UBL (+14 points), ENGRO (+13 points), ISL (+11 points) and MCB (+10 points). Stocks that contributed negatively include PPL (-19 points), FFC (-15 points), SYS (-14 points), PSO (-14 points) and SEARL (-13 points).
