KARACHI: Resisting closing in the deep red, the benchmark KSE-100 index settled flat on Thursday with a minor downward movement of 8.64 points to 43,784.

Trading remained choppy with the index moving widely between the intraday high by 329 points and low by 731 points. The market opened on a bullish note, carrying momentum from the preceding day’s late buying spree. It helped the KSE-100 index climb 329 points within the first half an hour.

But that triggered profit-taking and the benchmark sank in the red. Value-hunters who had been on the lookout for such a moment re-entered the market to pick up select scrips, pulling the index up in the last 30 minutes of trading.

Several brokers said the thaw could be misleading as thick dust still permeated the political scene. “Investors, as expected, remained cautious and refrained from participating aggressively due to uncertainty on the domestic political front,” said analysts at Elixir Securities.

Top index point decliners included Nestle Pakistan that went down five per cent, D.G. Khan Cement 3pc, Dawood Hercules 2.6pc, Oil and Gas Development Company 0.9pc and Charat Cement 4.2pc. Habib Bank added 2.2pc value, Pakistan Tobacco 5pc, MCB Bank 1.2pc, Lucky Cement 1pc and National Bank 3.5pc.

The trading volume decreased 42pc from a day ago to 126 million shares. Second-tier stocks, like K-Electric, TRG Pakistan, Engro Polymer and Chemicals, Bank of Punjab and Summit Bank, remained volume leaders.

The traded value also decreased 42pc to Rs7.3 billion.

Analysts at JS Global stated that in the last 30 minutes of the session, value-seeking investors started accumulating MSCI stocks, which led the index into the green zone.

Published in Dawn, July 14th, 2017