KARACHI: The Pakistan Stock Exchange (PSX) staged a rebound on Wednesday but the KSE-100 index rose just 57 points in range-bound trading as investors were wary of surging COVID-19 cases in the country and expectations of the rate hike in the monetary policy announcement due tomorrow.
Trading remained mixed as bulls locked horns with bears to take control of the market. Escalating inflation sparked fears among market participants of further tightening of monetary policy rate and widening of the current account deficit.
Moreover, investors panicked over rising COVID-19 infection cases and chose to stay on the sidelines, anticipating the renewed instruction of stringent measures by the government.
Following a brief positive open, the KSE-100 index lost ground and entered the negative territory within the initial minutes. From that point onwards, the market witnessed minor ups and downs.
At close, the benchmark KSE-100 index closed at 41,159.79 points with a gain of 57.11 points or 0.14%.
A report from Arif Habib Limited noted that the benchmark KSE-100 index witnessed a sluggish session today.
“The Investor’s participation continued to remain dry due to concerns regarding a rate hike in the upcoming monetary policy and Pakistani rupee depreciation against the US dollar,” it stated.
The brokerage house reported that the main board activity remained dull but decent volumes were recorded in the third-tier stocks.
Sectors contributing to the performance included banks (+35.9 points), cement (+15.5 points), technology (+13.9 points), power (+11.7 points) and oil marketing companies (+6.7 points).
Shares of 308 companies were traded during the session. At the close of trading, 173 scrips closed in the green, 115 in the red, and 20 remained unchanged.
Overall trading volumes rose to 98.24 million shares compared with Tuesday’s tally of 76.89 million. The value of shares traded during the day was Rs2.69 billion.
Agritech Limited was the volume leader with 25.03 million shares traded, gaining Rs0.41 to close at Rs7.01. It was followed by Unity Foods with 5.39 million shares traded, gaining Rs0.10 to close at Rs19.93 and Azgard Nine with 3.6 million shares traded, gaining Rs0.32 to close at Rs10.69.
