KARACHI: The Pakistan Stock Exchange ended its five-day losing streak on Tuesday, gaining 172 points in an otherwise dull trading session as investors waited for positive triggers.
At close, the benchmark KSE 100-share Index recorded an increase of 171.93 points or 0.41% to settle at 41,753.89.
After a positive start, the market nudged its way back and juggled between negative and positive zones for most part of the day, he said, adding trading activity stood low with only 65 million shares changing hands in the benchmark KSE-100 index.
Despite shallow participation, cement stocks outshined and carried the momentum with Maple Leaf Cement (+5%) hitting its upper price limit and finishing third on the volumes chart with trading in more than 6.5 million shares.
Late buying in DG Khan Cement (+2.1%) and Lucky Cement (+1.1%) also contributed to the rise.
Major participation was seen in retail plays including K-Electric (+4.1%) and Agritech Limited (-4.5%), which later faced profit taking after the Economic Coordination Committee announced allocation of liquefied natural gas (LNG) to three closed urea plants at 50% subsidised rate.
The stock had rallied more than 21% in five preceding sessions. The two shares together contributed 36 million shares or 23% of the total traded volumes on Tuesday.
Overall, trading volumes decreased to 126.57 million shares compared with Monday’s tally of 159.21 million. The value of shares traded during the day was Rs4.1 billion.
Shares of 371 companies were traded. At the end of the day, 208 stocks closed higher, 142 declined while 21 remained unchanged.
K-Electric was the volume leader with 23.62 million shares, gaining Rs0.23 to close at Rs5.78. It was followed by Agritech Limited with 12.34 million shares, losing Rs0.37 to close at Rs7.84 and Maple Leaf Cement with 6.59 million shares, gaining Rs2.62 to close at Rs55.16.
