Stocks close weekend session with marginal gains

KARACHI: Lacklustre activity marked the trading session on the Pakistan Stock Exchange as investors preferred to stay on the sidelines ahead of the announcement of the monetary policy announcement on Friday, said Topline Securities.

Trading began on the positive note as the army chief’s appointment a day ago proved the much-needed clarity on the political ground, said Arif Habib Ltd. But the second half of the day saw the index trade in a narrow range with volumes drying up.

JS Global said investors should stay cautious at the current level and wait for any fresh buying.

As a result, the KSE-100 index settled at 42,936.73 points, up 33 points or 0.08 per cent from the preceding session.

The trading volume increased 15.8pc to 177.3 million shares while the traded value went up 3.3pc to $27m on a day-on-day basis.

Stocks contributing significantly to the traded volume included Hum Network Ltd (19.3m shares), Dewan Motors Ltd (12.2m shares), WorldCall Telecom Ltd (10.5m shares), Hascol Petroleum Ltd (10.3m shares) and Cnergyico PK Ltd (8.4m shares).

Sectors that contributed to the index performance were fertiliser (34.3 points), miscellaneous (26.4 points), commercial banking (21.9 points), exploration and production (20.2 points), food and personal care products (6.9 points).

Companies registering the biggest increase in their share prices in absolute terms were Rafhan Maize Products Company Ltd (Rs434.99), Sapphire Fibres Ltd (Rs49), Pakistan Services Ltd (Rs48.37), Sapphire Textile Mills Ltd (Rs25) and Shield Corporation Ltd (Rs22.22).

Shares that declined the most in rupee terms were Nestle Pakistan Ltd (Rs76), Sanofi-Aventis Pakistan Ltd (Rs49.89), Siemens Pakistan Engineering Ltd (Rs40.66), Colgate-Palmolive Pakistan Ltd (Rs15.72) and Khyber Tobacco Company Ltd (Rs9.68).

Foreign investors were net buyers as they purchased shares worth 0.46m.