KARACHI: The stock market staged another range-bound session on Monday with the KSE-100 index gaining 74.21 points (0.51 per cent) to close at 49,630.04 points.

Volume fell 17 per cent to 281 million shares from 338m traded last Friday, while the trading value also declined to Rs13.1 billion, from Rs18.7bn. Despite a lacklustre session, 38 stocks closed on their upper circuits in contrast to 26 scrips closing on lower limits.

Dealers at Topline Securities stated that the market witnessed positive sentiments during the day to touch intraday high of 49,739 points, up 186 points.

However, profit taking in later part of the day saw index drift to intra-day low at 49,534 points, down 23 points.

Heavy weights, Habib Bank Ltd and United Bank Ltd made cumulative contribution of 63 points to the index gains. International Steel Ltd continued to attract investors’ interest, which led the stock to close at its upper limit.

Analysts at Intermarket Securities calculated that major contribution to upside came from Habib Bank Ltd which increased 1.25pc, International Steels Ltd 5pc, The Resource Group 4.17pc, United Bank Ltd 0.95pc and Honda Atlas Cars 4.62pc adding 129 points to the index.

From the sector perspective, industrials rose 1.04pc, real estate 0.73pc and materials 0.48pc.

Analyst Nabeel Haroon, at JS Global, observed that the index could not sustain initial high levels as the E&P sector lost most of its intraday gains.

Pakistan State Oil closed 2.89pc down as the oil marketing company announced its result for 1HFY17 with no dividend.

Ahsan Mehanti at Arif Habib Corp believed that concerns over surge in government borrowings and rising circular debt invited mid-session pressure.

However, strong earnings announcements in cement, steel and auto sectors supported the index to close above the day’s low.

Published in Dawn February 7th, 2017