KARACHI: Stocks traded in a narrow range on Wednesday before slipping below the preceding day’s close after investors chose to book profits.

Arif Habib Ltd said the benchmark index stayed in the positive zone for the most part of the trading session. Renewed interest was witnessed in the last trading hour following a press conference by the prime minister and his cabinet members. The finance minister hinted at a much-anticipated solution for the resolution of the gas sector’s circular debt, which boosted activity in exploration and production stocks.

Healthy volumes were observed as third-tier companies continued dominating the volume board.

As a result, the KSE-100 index settled at 40,758.20 points, down 43.31 points or 0.11 per cent from the preceding session.

The overall trading volume decreased 11.7pc to 189.4 million shares. The traded value went up 6.3pc to $30.6m on a day-on-day basis.

Stocks contributing significantly to the traded volume included K-Electric Ltd (20.4m shares), Pakistan Petroleum Ltd (17.7m shares), Sui Southern Gas Company Ltd (15.1m shares), Oil and Gas Development Company Ltd (12.9m shares) and Sui Northern Gas Pipelines Ltd (8.6m shares).

Sectors contributing negatively to the index performance were cement (45.2 points), commercial banking (30.8 points), technology and communication (27.9 points), pharmaceutical (19.6 points) and power generation and distribution (18.5 points).

Companies registering the biggest increases in their share prices in absolute terms were Al-Abbas Sugar Mills Ltd (Rs13.81), Millat Tractors Ltd (Rs12.80), Mehmood Textile Mills Ltd (Rs12), Pakistan Engineering Company Ltd (Rs9.75) and Ellcot Spinning Mills Ltd (Rs9.54).

Companies that recorded the biggest declines in their share prices in absolute terms were Premium Textile Mills Ltd (Rs48.78), Siemens Pakistan Engineering Ltd (Rs39.26), Bhanero Textile Mills Ltd (Rs25), Khyber Tobacco Company Ltd (Rs24.83) and Shield Corporation Ltd (Rs22.48).

Foreign investors were net buyers as they purchased shares worth $0.23m.

Published in Dawn, January 12th, 2023