KARACHI: Another lacklustre session on the Pakistan Stock Exchange saw the KSE-100 index add 18.18 points, or 0.04 per cent, and close at 50,162.81 on Wednesday.

Trading was volatile with the intraday high and low of 204 and -176, respectively. The encouraging news came from foreign portfolio investment figures provided by the National Clearing Company of Pakistan. They showed a net buying of shares worth $4 million by foreign investors. This marked the first net inflow after Pakistan’s entry into the MSCI Emerging Market Index on June 1.

The volume thinned to 232m shares traded against the 10-day moving average of 341m shares. With 23m shares, Dewan Farooque Spinning Mills was the volume leader. The traded value dipped 16pc over the earlier day to Rs11.3 billion.

Top gainers were Oil and Gas Development Company, which went up 1.4pc, International Steels 4pc, United Bank 0.8pc, Dawood Hercules 1.9pc and Pak Elektron 2.6pc, which cumulatively provided 103 points to the index.

Hub Power Company lost 1.6pc, Engro Corporation 1.1pc, National Bank 2.2pc, Habib Bank 0.3pc and Bank Al Habib 1.1pc, which eroded a total of 90 points from the index.

The exploration and production sector added 28 points, followed by engineering 25 points and cable/electrical goods 15 points. The power sector shed 41 points, banks 14 points and chemical 10 points.

Analysts at JS Global stated that the stocks in the power generation sector lost value as the conflict between the government and Independent Power Producers caught investors’ attention. Value declines were in Kot Addu Power Company, which lost 0.93pc, Lalpir Power 0.97pc and Nishat Power 0.11pc.

Approval delays faced by new car manufacturing firms gave a slight boost to the auto sector as Honda Atlas Cars gained 0.31pc and Pak Suzuki went up 0.26pc.

Published in Dawn, June 8th, 2017