KARACHI: Pakistan stock market managed to regain upward rally after three days fall on the back of fresh buying on attractive share prices. However, the benchmark index that breached above 48,000 points support level during intraday came under selling pressure due to profit raking in late hours of the trading day and closed below the mark.
The Karachi Share Index (KSE-100) ended the day 61.84 points (0.13 per cent) up at 47,962.54 points against the previous closing of 47,900.70 points. The market went as high as 48,117.91 points during intra-day trading, while recorded as low as 47,899.68 points.
Trading volumes increased to 638.8 million shares today, as compared to 619.1 million shares during the last trading day, while the daily traded value moved down to Rs16.37 billion from Rs18.6 billion in the previous session, the data said.
Traders and analysts said in absence of any encouraging news, the recovery seems mostly on technical ground as the three-day fall pushed the Index and the share prices down at the attractive levels for fresh buying. However, the trend demanded cautious policy and avoiding speculative investments as the later part of the day saw corrections on the back of profit-taking by day traders with low holding capacity.
On the other hand, the blast in Lahore yesterday and the rupee’s depreciation against the US dollar also worried investors, they added.
The US dollar has gained Rs1.02 during the last two trading sessions against the Pakistani Rupee in the interbank market owing to an increase in food and machinery imports. The US dollar closed at Rs 158.53 in the interbank today — after it gained 32 paisas — compared to the previous closing of Rs 158.19.
The share price of Island Textile increased by Rs55 to Rs2,400, while Hinopak Motor gained Rs37.16 to Rs532.72. On the other hand, Rafhan Maize lost Rs100 today to close at Rs9,400 while Sapphire Fiber lost Rs32.50 to close at Rs767.50.
