KARACHI: Following a bull run a day ago, share prices oscillated within a narrow band on Friday with the benchmark measuring the performance of representative shares hovering between intraday highs and lows of 28 and 92 points, respectively.

According to analyst Ahsan Mehanti, stocks closed on the higher side amid speculations about the upcoming earnings season.

Stocks witnessed some mid-session pressure as instability in the currency market based on concerns for high government borrowing and unsustainable debt payments weighed equities down.

Rising foreign exchange reserves of the State Bank of Pakistan and reports about the expected release of International Monetary Fund loan tranche next week played the role of a catalyst in the positive close.

As a result, the KSE-100 index settled at 44,207.31 points, up 28.46 points or 0.06 per cent from the preceding session.

The overall trading volume decreased 16.7pc to 247.9 million shares. The traded value went down 31.5pc to Rs8.5 billion on a day-on-day basis.

Stocks contributing significantly to the traded volume included WorldCall Telecom Ltd (35.8m shares), Telecard Ltd (19.8m shares), TRG Pakistan Ltd (14.6m shares), Avanceon Ltd (10.9m shares) and Unity Foods Ltd (10.7m shares).

Companies registering the biggest increases in their share prices in absolute terms were Siemens Pakistan Engineering Ltd (Rs39.80), Mehmood Textile Mills Ltd (Rs37.38), Pakistan Services Ltd (Rs28.21), JDW Sugar Mills Ltd (Rs25.75) and Khairpur Sugar Mills Ltd (Rs19.88).

Companies that recorded the biggest declines in their share prices in absolute terms were Rafhan Maize Products Company Ltd (Rs110), Mari Petroleum Ltd (Rs9.79), Fazal Cloth Mills Ltd (Rs7.82), Packages Ltd (Rs7.46) and Indus Motor Company Ltd (Rs6.15).

Foreign investors were net sellers as they offloaded shares worth $0.47m.

Published in Dawn, July 8th, 2023