Lacklustre activity forces PSX to close flat as political, economic noise mutes trade

• The benchmark KSE-100 index opened on a positive note but it soon entered the red zone and started losing ground in the early hours.
• At close, the benchmark KSE-100 index sheds 6.62 points to close at 43,846.87 points.
• Shares of 350 companies were traded during the session.

KARACHI: Stocks at the Pakistan Stock Exchange (PSX) inched down on Wednesday in sluggish trade as market players chose discretion over valour as they awaited monetary policy signals from the State Bank of Pakistan (SBP).

The bourse traded between hope and despair, which eventually let loose the bears who dragged the bourse into the red.

Investors kept a close watch on political news about the Pakistan Democratic Movement's (PDM) inflation march and the upcoming mini-budget.

Moreover, depreciating local currency against the US dollar, which plunged to an all-time low of Rs177.43 in the interbank market, dented investors’ confidence.

The benchmark KSE-100 index opened on a positive note but it soon entered the red zone and started losing ground in the early hours. The topsy-turvy session had a dull activity amid the economic uncertainty ahead of the monetary policy announcement scheduled next week and anticipation of current account data.

A report from Arif Habib Limited noted that the market remained range-bound today, with low volumes and lacklustre activity witnessed across the board.

“The benchmark KSE-100 index went up by 285 points during the day but couldn’t manage to sustain positive momentum,” it said.

Sectors contributing to the performance included cement (-83 points), fertiliser (-32 points), pharmaceuticals (-14 points), engineering (-13 points) and refinery (-10 points).

Today, at the close, the benchmark KSE-100 index shed 6.62 points, or 0.02%, to close at 43,846.87 points.

Shares of 350 companies were traded during the session. At the close of trading, 134 scrips closed in the green, 196 in the red, and 20 remained unchanged.

Overall trading volumes soared to 233.2 million shares compared with Tuesday’s tally of 229.4 million. The value of shares traded during the day was Rs7 billion.

Hascol Petroleum was the volume leader with 57.5 million shares traded, gaining Rs0.65 to close at Rs6.70. It was followed by Telecard Limited with 21.8 million shares traded, gaining Rs0.87 to close at Rs15.57, and Treet Corporation with 11.11 million shares traded, losing Rs0.32 to close at Rs41.45.