KARACHI: A range-bound session on the stock exchange ended on Friday with the benchmark inching up from the preceding close.

Investors traded shares with caution because of political and economic instability, said Arif Habib Ltd. However, a hefty trade volume was witnessed in the futures contracts because of the rollover week.

Investors also celebrated the strong recovery in the rupee against the dollar following the arrival of Finance Minister Ishaq Dar. The rupee appreciated 4.9 per cent week-on-week against the US currency to close at 228.45 on Friday. It was the second highest weekly recovery in absolute terms, according to the brokerage house.

A dampener was Habib Bank Ltd, which closed on its lower circuit for the second consecutive day as the lender is facing secondary liabilities in a terror financing case in the United States.

As a result, the KSE-100 ind­­ex settled at 41,128.67 po­i­nts, up 114.81 points or 0.28pc from the preceding session.

The trading volume increa­sed 61.4pc to 205.7 million shares while the traded value went up 72.1pc to $41.6m on a day-on-day basis.

Stocks contributing significantly to the traded volume included TRG Pakistan Ltd (30.19m shares), TPL Proper­ties Ltd (18.65m shares), K-Electric Ltd (15.65m shares), Pakistan Internati­onal Bulk Terminal Ltd (10.27m shares) and Cnerg­yico PK Ltd (7.71m shares).

Sectors that contributed to the index performance were technology (80.4 points), exploration and production (35.6 points), fertiliser (24.4 points), investment banking (20.9 points) and tobacco (13 points).

Companies registering the biggest increase in their share prices in absolute terms were Bata Pakistan Ltd (Rs106), Sanofi-Aventis Pakistan Ltd (Rs49), Pakistan Tobacco Company Ltd (Rs40), Colgate-Palm­olive Pakistan Ltd (Rs38.99) and Mari Petroleum Company Ltd (Rs24.01).

Shares that declined the most in rupee terms were Siemens Pakistan Engine­ering Ltd (Rs44.99), Bhanero Textile Mills Ltd (Rs35.01), Shield Corporation Ltd (Rs19.99), the Thal Indus­tries Corporation Ltd (Rs10.71) and Ellcot Spin­ni­ng Mills Ltd (Rs10.64).

Foreign investors rema­ined net buyers as they purchased shares worth $6.6m.

Published in Dawn, October 1st, 2022