KARACHI: The stock market increased by 105 points on Thursday in a narrow band trading activities.
The benchmark KSE-100 index of Pakistan Stock Exchange (PSX) closed at 35,758 points as against 35,6553 points showing an increase of 105 points.
Analysts at Arif Habib Limited said that the market traded in a narrow range between -195 points and +181 points, closing the session +105 points.
Higher than expected inflation caused concern amongst investors about the upcoming monetary policy, where a few days back market had consensus view of a rate cut.
Selling activity was therefore observed in Cement and Steel sectors largely, which have lately seen consistent rally before and after recent announcement of financial results.
Consistent with recent trading pattern, technology sector registered the most trading volume with 68.2 million shares, followed by Cement (30.4 million) and Chemical (19.5 million).
Among scrips, WTL led the volumes with 45.8 million shares, followed by PAEL (16.7 million) and ICIBL (13.6 million).
Sectors contributing to the performance include (Fertilizer (+60 points), O&GMCs (+29 points), E&P (+23 points), Tobacco (+21 points), Autos (+20 points) and Cement (-43 points).
Volumes declined further from 298.1 million shares to 265.8 million shares (-11 percent DoD). Average traded value also declined by 24 percent to reach US$ 51.5 million as against US$ 67.7 million.
Stocks that contributed significantly to the volumes include WTL, PAEL, ICIBL, HUMNL and MLCF, which formed 38 percent of total volumes.
Stocks that contributed positively include PAKT (+29 points), ENGRO (+28 points), POL (+26 points), PSO (+23 points) and HUBC (+19 points). Stocks that contributed negatively include DGKC (-15 points), NESTLE (-11 points), FCCL (-11 points), DAWH (-10 points), and LUCK (-9 points).
