KARACHI: The battle between the bulls and bears kept the market range-bound all through the day where the KSE-100 index moved between intraday high and low by 128 and 137 points and finally settled slightly positive by 47 points (0.1 per cent) at 33,523.

Traders attributed the directionless market to a lack of positive triggers; sell-off in an overbought market after seven-day rally and offloading stocks by foreign investors and mutual funds.

Individuals and companies endeavoured to mop up the liquidity. Traders said that investors were avoiding to put more money on the table ahead of the quarterly results due later this month and above all the Financial Action Task Force’s October review from 12th in Paris, that hung like the sword of Damocles over the head. The marketmen were stuck between hope and apprehensions of the country being able to avoid the black list.

Investor participation dimmed 2pc over the previous day to 237.4 million shares while the traded value declined by 28pc to $40.9m. Stocks that contributed significantly included Lotte Chemical, Unity Foods, Bank of Punjab, K-Electric and Engro Polymer and Chemical, which formed 36pc of total turnover.

Chemical sector caught the investors’ eye as Lotte, Engro Polymer and Descon Oxychem hit their upper circuits due to expectation of healthy upcoming financial results. Profit-taking was witnessed in cement where DG Khan, Lucky and Fauji were the major laggards. In fertiliser, Engro Corp and Fauji closed in the red.

Exploration and production saw Oil and Gas Development Company (OGDC) and Pakistan Petroleum shed values while major steel stocks including Amreli, Aisha, International and International Industries closed negative.

Banking depicted mixed performance with Habib and United were slightly higher but MCB down.

Scrip-wise major gainers were Hub Power, up 1.75pc, Mari Petroleum 4.50pc, Habib Bank 0.89pc, United 0.94pc and Pakistan Oilfields 1.22pc. On the flip side, Lucky Cement, down 2.22pc, MCB 1.11pc, DG Khan 4.78pc, OGDC 0.70pc and National Bank 2.94pc dragged the index down.

Published in Dawn, October 10th, 2019