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The Pakistan Stock Exchange moved tentatively in the green on Tuesday, with the benchmark KSE-100 index gaining 86 points, or 0.18 per cent, by the close of the trading session to reach 49,015 points.
Stocks had closed lower on Monday after investors decided to book profits following uncertainty over a host of factors. The Securities and Exchange Commission of Pakistan had taken stringent compliance measures that brought in-house financing by brokers to a complete halt, leading to a dry up of liquidity. Weak investors had also liquidated their positions due to the future roll-over week. Additionally, corporate results announced during the day did not help either, as a few big companies announced earnings that fell below market expectations.
On Tuesday, KSE-100 Index volumes were higher by 5.66pc at 118.97 million shares, but the total worth of trades was nearly unchanged at Rs8.93 billion.
Overall, stocks of 399 companies were traded on the exchange, of which 148 gained in value, 233 declined and 18 remained unchanged.
Volumes were led by:
Power Cement Ltd.: 36.3m shares traded (-4.79pc);
K-electric Ltd.: 34.9m shares traded (+0.31pc);
Aisha Steel Mill: 29.4m shares traded (+4.28pc);
Dost Steels Ltd.: 20.9m shares traded (0pc); and,
TRG Pak Ltd: 16.7m shares traded (+4.78pc).
"Volatility prevailed in the market, as the index traded between an intraday high of +174 points and an intraday low of -273 points to finally close at 49,015 level," said Nabeel Haroon, an analyst at JS Global.
"The banking sector extended its previous day's gains, closing 0.4pc higher," Haroon said.
"HBL Bank (HBL; +0.35pc), MCB Bank (MCB; +0.52pc) and United Bank (UBL; +0.73pc) were among the major index movers from the banking sector," he added.
"Interest was seen in heavy-weights Oil and Gas Development Company (OGDC) and UBL, which made a combined contribution of 65 points to the index's gains while gaining 1.7pc and 1.3pc respectively," added Hammad Aman of Topline Securities.
Some selling pressure was witnessed in the fertilizer sector, which lost 0.5pc from Monday's close.
Steel stocks rose on investor speculation that an antidumping duty imposed by the National Tariff Commission on imports of cold-rolled coils and galvanized steel from China will be upheld in court tomorrow.
Oil stocks also notched gains as crude oil prices improved to around $54/bbl.
"Moving forward we expect market to remain volatile and recommend investors to stay cautious in the ongoing futures' rollover week," Haroon added.
