KARACHI: Pressures of the rollover week kept stock trading range-bound on Wednesday as market activity stayed sideways throughout the day.

According to Arif Habib Ltd, the refinery sector remained in the limelight as the government and market players discussed a new policy path for the oil refining industry. JS Global said it expects the range-bound activity to continue going forward and advised investors to take advantage of downside opportunities in cement and banking sectors.

As a result, the KSE-100 index gained 216.37 points or 0.49 per cent to close at 44,260.11 points.

Market participation increased 89pc to 271.1 million shares while the value of traded shares also went up 63.5pc to $45.8m.

Sectors contributing the highest number of points to the benchmark index included refinery (45.08 points), pharmaceutical (30.56 points), oil and gas marketing (29.39 points), power generation and distribution (28.18 points) and textile (22.63 points).

Stocks that contributed significantly to the traded volume included Cnergyico PK Ltd (47.42m shares), WorldCall Telecom Ltd (14.75m shares), K-Electric Ltd (13.55m shares), TRG Pakistan Ltd (11.75m shares) and D.S. Industries Ltd (10.6m shares).

Shares contributing positively to the index were TRG Pakistan Ltd (32.77 points), Pakistan State Oil Company Ltd (24.44 points), Cnergyico PK Ltd (22.45 points), The Searle Company Ltd (14.04 points) and AGP Ltd (13.34 points).

Stocks that took away the maximum number of points from the index included Systems Ltd (24.82 points), United Bank Ltd (17.90 points), Habib Bank Ltd (17.75 points), Millat Tractors Ltd (16.47 points) and Habib Metropolitan Bank Ltd (10.96 points).

Stocks recording the biggest increases in percentage terms included Cnergyico PK Ltd, which went up 9.19pc, followed by Azgard Nine Ltd (8.21pc), National Refinery Ltd (7.5pc), Attock Refinery Ltd (7.3pc) and AGP Ltd (7.09pc).

Foreign investors were net buyers as they purchased shares worth $1.11m on a net basis.

Published in Dawn, December 30th, 2021