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KARACHI: Stocks remained range bound on Monday with the KSE-100 index finishing off the session with tiny gain of 54.43 points (0.13 per cent) at 40,784.04.
While the international equity and oil markets were celebrating the victory of Joe Biden, the local bourse joined in early hours as the index jumped to intra-day high by 212 points.
But then, the PSX parted ways. Local investors were unable to figure out the market behaviour going forward in the face of swiftly rising Covid-19 cases and the massive political rallies that provided a futile ground for the virus to spread.
As the fear gripped the market, the index slipped to intraday low by 135 points. Investors however took comfort from the appreciation of the rupee against the dollar. The news flow relating to Pakistan looking forward to repay loan of $2 billion to Saudi Arabia and to secure alternative sources to make up for the outflow so as to retain foreign exchange reserves at their current level of over $12bn kept investors worried. The untimely act of the National Electric Power Regulatory Authority (Nepra) to increase electricity tariff by Rs0.4848 per unit also came as a blow.
Traded activity remained thin with the volumes showing a decline of 21pc over the previous session to 277 million shares while the traded value clocked in at Rs.9.51bn, down 17.4pc from previous day.
Cements, technology, banks and fertiliser stocks saw change of hands though volume leaders were mainly second-tier stocks: Power Cement Ltd, TRG Pakistan (TRG), Pak Elektron Ltd, Pakistan Refinery Ltd and Unity Foods Ltd, which formed 44pc of total volumes.
Major contribution to the index upside was made by the pharmaceutical, technology and banking sectors, while cements and steels fared badly. In the pharmaceuticals, GlaxoSmithKline, Ferozsons and AGP were prime gainers; Habib Bank Ltd and MCB Bank Ltd moved forward among banks while Avanceon Ltd and TRG were up in the technology sector.
In cements, Lucky, Pioneer, Cherat and D.G. Khan cements and several main scrips in the steel sector were battered.