KARACHI: Stocks consolidated on Thursday as the KSE-100 index added another 92.95 points (0.28 per cent) to settle at 33,469.15.

The index saw volatile trade and oscillated between the intra-day high of 117 points and low of 119 points.

Traded volume increased by 35pc to 179 million shares while value rose by 28pc to Rs9.8 billion.

Foreigners were again net sellers of $2.84m worth stocks, while local funds were the major buyers with net buying of $3.4m.

“Profit-taking was seen in the oil and gas sector which fell by 1pc after rising by 7pc in the previous three trading sessions,” said dealers at Topline Securities.

Investors took fresh positions in the cement sector on account of attractive valuations. KOHC increased by 4.8pc, DGKC 3.1pc, MLCF 2.3pc, FCCL 2.2pc while LUCK rose by 1.6pc.

Major activity was seen in stocks like BYCO, PAEL and TRG Pakistan with volumes of 27.2m, 15.6m and 14.3m, respectively.

Analyst at Global Securities stated that “buildup” of investors’ interest in main board stock could provide a positive trigger for the bourse.

Dealers at JS Global stated that volatility prevailed in the session. Due to recovery in global crude prices some oil scrips rallied but major players remained under pressure with PSO, PPL and POL closing down by 1.32pc, 1.76pc and 1.96pc, respectively.

Top performers in the cement sector were KOHC, DGKC and ACPL (up 2.67pc).

Cherry picking continued in the banking sector where three out of five big banks were positive, while the top performer was MCB (up 1.21pc).

Published in Dawn, October 9th, 2015

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