KARACHI: On Wednesday, the KSE-100 index gained 109.35 points after some momentum and range-bound trading throughout the day. The analyst believed that the inquiry report by the Competition Commission of Pakistan (CCP) highlighted the behaviour of cement sector which supported the market today.
The Karachi Share Index (KSE-100) closed up by 109.35 points (0.25 per cent) after closing at 43,360.19 points against the previous closing of 43,250.84 points. The market went up to 43,556.97 points during intra-day trading, while recorded as low as 43,175.35 points.
Trading volume decreased to 433.02 million shares today as compared to 702.2 million traded in the previous session, according to PSX website data. The daily traded value decreased to Rs 21.383 billion from Rs 29.201 billion in the previous session, the data said.
According to the AKD Securities, the market was range bound today, the benchmark KSE-100 index initially advanced during intraday trading (high: +0.70%) following its global counterparts.
However, he said, “the sentiments were dampened by findings of an inquiry report of the CCP highlighting collusive behaviour by the cement sector which became a catalyst for sustained profit-taking in the broader market, paring back some intraday gains.
In this backdrop, the index was driven by the oil & gas (E&P) sector (brent stable over $50/bbl), selective interest in technology, bank and textiles.
Preliminary data suggest that foreign corporates likely continued to be net sellers (likely banks and oil & gas) with selective interest in other sectors.
The overall market traded 556 million shares (down 37% day to day) where TRG recorded the highest volumes for the day with 29 million shares traded followed by HASCOL (~23mn shares traded) and BYCO (~20mn shares).
UBL contributed the most to the index decline (down 1.23%) while OGDC provided the biggest boost (up 3.56%) to the benchmark.
