KARACHI: The stock market gained 222 points on Tuesday amid cautious buying during the day.
The benchmark KSE-100 index of Pakistan Stock Exchange (PSX) was closed at 40,665 points as against 40,443 points showing an increase of 222 points.
Analysts at Arif Habib Limited said that the market traded in a narrow range oscillating between -184 points and +222 points.
Activity remained relatively slow as compared with yesterday, but buyers were cautious of market correction, which was anticipated since last week.
Autos, Steel, Cement and Banking sector stocks saw selling pressure. Vanaspati sector led the volumes with 30.5 million shares, followed by Chemical (30.2 million) and Cement (29.3 million).
Scrip wise activity shows UNITY topping the chart with 30.5 million shares, followed by FFL (19.3 million) and KEL (15.8 million).
Sectors contributing to the performance include Cement (+51 points), Pharma (+27 points), Banks (+25 points), O&GMCs (+25 points) and E&P (+20 points).
Volumes declined from 320.1 million shares to 254.6 million shares (-21 percent DoD).
Average traded value also declined by 19 percent to reach US$ 59.5 million as against US$ 73.5 million.
Stocks that contributed significantly to the volumes include UNITY, FFL, KEL, LOTCHEM and AGL, which formed 34 percent of total volumes.
Stocks that contributed positively include LUCK (+29 points), POL (+27 points), UBL (+21 points), NESTLE (+19 points) and PSO (+13 points). Stocks that contributed negatively include OGDC (-10 points), HUBC (-10 points), PSMC (-7 points), NATF (-6 points), and BAFL (-5 points).
