Stocks manage modest gains in range-bound trading

KARACHI: The stock market remained range-bound with the KSE-100 index closing almost flat on minor gains of 31.09 points (0.08 per cent) at 40,844.40.

The index made intraday high and low of 97 and 176 points, respectively. Investors continued to consider any upside as an opportunity to reduce short-term positions or book profits.

The volume increased by 20pc from the earlier day’s to 116m shares. The traded value also increased by 9.5pc to Rs5.49bn.

Investors were seen taking positions in small cap stocks. TRG, ANL and WTL, Sui Southern Gas Ccompany Ltd and Sui Northern Gas Pipeline Ltd contributed 46pc to overall volume.

The benchmark index stood 3.1pc above its 52-week low of 39,617.19 reached on Oct 31 and 23pc below its 52-week high of 52,876.46 touched on May 24.

Most of the selling pressure was witnessed during the second session of the day. Banks came under the hammer where HBL was down 0.17pc, UBL 0.35pc and NBP 0.37pc, stated analysts at JS Global.

E&P stocks edged higher with POL up 0.54pc, PPL 1.59pc and Oil and Gas Development Company 1.03pc.

The government’s decision to shut down furnace oil-based power plants weighed down on PSO down 3.23pc, ATRL 2.75pc and NRL 2.98pc.

Analyst Ahsan Mehanti commented that the higher global crude prices, upbeat financial results in selected oil, banking and auto scrips played a catalyst role in higher close at PSX despite mid-session pressure on account of MSCI downgrade of Pakistan weight in Emerging Market index, foreign outflows and surging trade deficit data for the July-October period.

Published in Dawn, November 18th, 2017