KARACHI: The stock market on Wednesday fai­l­ed to sustain overnight gai­ns and faltered below 113,000 in choppy trade amid concerns about the economic outlook.

Topline Securities Ltd said the stock market expe­rienced a range-bound session, with the benchmark index oscillating between an intraday high of 426 points and a low of 389 points. Ultimately, the index closed at 112,924 points, posting a marginal decline of 85 points or 0.08 per cent day-on-day.

It noted that investor sentiment remained mixed following the latest MSCI rev­i­ew, where Abbott Labor­atories and The Searle Company were included in the MSCI Frontier Market Index. At the same time, BF Biosciences Ltd, Biafo Industries Ltd, and Power Cement were added to the MSCI Frontier Market Small Cap Index. However, the review fell short of market expectations, leading to subdued activity.

The uptick was primarily driven by Pakistan Petrol­eum, Bank of Punjab, Pakistan Telecommu­nica­tion Company Ltd, Askari Bank, and Maple Leaf Cement, collectively contributing 202 points to the index. Conversely, Habib Bank, Hub Power, Millat Tractors, Bank Alfalah, Mari Energies and National Bank, collectively took away 220 points.

Arif Habib Corporation said the market came under pressure amid foreign outflows, and uncertainty over proposed Tax Amendment Bill 2024 limiting non-filers investing in the PSX.

It added that concerns over foreign debt repayments, the EU review on GSP+ status, the outcome of USAID suspension, and political noise depressed investor sentiments.

However, the trading volume rose 37.51pc to 669.59 million shares while the tra­d­ed value decreased 8.15pc to Rs27.9bn day-on-day.

Stocks contributing significantly to the traded volume included The Bank of Punjab (195.54m shares), Bank Makramah ( 46.59m shares), Pakistan Telecom ( 30.23m shares), Hascol Petroleum (24.46m shares) and Maple Leaf Cement (21.94m shares).

Published in Dawn, February 13th, 2025