KARACHI: The stock market weathered a volatile day where the KSE-100 index closed flat with a marginal gain of 8.04 points (0.03 per cent) at 32,078.85.

The index started in the positive territory, maintaining upside momentum of previous session and went on to climb to the intra-day high by 324 points.

However, late in the day, the index succumbed to selling pressure and dipped to intra-day low by 141 points. Investors’ appeared to be concerned over the inflation number for the month of September.

Moreover, the Financial Action Task Force final review on Pakistan starting from Oct 13 to decide its status in the grey or down to black, kept investors cautious.

Overall participation was mainly in small and mid-tier stocks as volumes rose to 166 million shares on Monday, up 23pc from 135m shares traded in the previous session.

Analysts said the volume had swelled due to extraordinary high volumes of 55.6m shares in K-Electric. Trading value, however, dropped slightly to Rs4.24 billion from Rs4.25bn.

Foreign investors took fresh positions in equities worth $1.80m on Monday, which was a relief from the foreign outflows recorded at $8.76m the previous week. The foreign buying was supplemented by banks’ purchases of $1.15m worth shares. It helped to absorb moderate net sales by companies, mutual funds and individuals. Brokers resorted to profit taking by sale of shares valued at $1.06m.

Sector wise, exploration and production made positive contribution of 41.7 points, followed by fertiliser 13.59 points and oil marketing companies 8.15 points. Mixed sentiments were witnessed in the cement sector where D. G. Khan Cement was up 1.7pc and Maple Leaf Cement Factory 0.3pc closed in the green whereas Kohat Cement was down 1.8pc, Pioneer Cement 2.0pc and Lucky Cement 1.6pc closed in the red trajectory.

Top gainers for the day included Kohinoor Textile Mills Ltd was up 5pc, EFU General Insurance 5.0pc and Services Industries Ltd 4.6pc while losers were Phillip Morris Pakistan was down 5pc, Jubilee Life Insurance 4.4pc and Ghani Glass Ltd 3.5pc.

Published in Dawn, October 1st, 2019