KARACHI
\nPakistan Stock Exchange (PSX) closed flat after a volatile session on Wednesday, with the benchmark KSE-100 Index losing 4.18 points (-0.01 percent) to close at 43,552.83 points.
\nThe market opened on a positive note and witnessed a bull-run during the trading in the first hour and a quarter, before profit-taking stepped in to pare some gains of the day soon after the index crossed 44,000 points threshold. By midday, the market was in the green. However, some political developments in Gilgit-Baltistan impacted the investors\u2019 sentiment, dragging the market in the red and eroding all the gains.
\nHowever, the market is still giving bullish signals as the country is heading towards stability on the back of the optimism stemming from Pakistan narrowly escaping default after the International Monetary Fund (IMF) announced a staff-level agreement with Pakistan worth $3 billion.
\nPrime Minister Shehbaz Sharif on Wednesday said he is hopeful that the $3 billion nine-month bailout from the IMF would be approved by the lender\u2019s board when it meets on July 12.
\nThe executive board of the IMF will meet on July 12 to review the $3 billion Stand-by Arrangement (SBA) for Pakistan, the staff-level pact for which was finalised last week.
\nThe benchmark index traded in a range of 577.2 points showing an intraday high of 44,041.26 points and an intraday low of 43,464.06 points. Among other indices, the KSE All Share Index shed 28.82 points (-0.1 percent) to close at 29,198.58 points, while KMI All Share Islamic Index shed 40.92 points (-0.19 percent) to close at 21,318.70 points.
\nTotal volumes traded for the KSE-100 Index remained 181.24 million shares. The overall market volumes decreased by 68.12 million to 351.18 million shares against 419.30 million shares a session earlier.
\nAmong scrips, PRL topped the volumes with 27.32 million shares, followed by CNERGY (20.47 million) and WTL (16.69 million). Stocks that contributed significantly to the volumes included PRL, CNERGY, WTL, PAEL, and HUBC, which formed around 26 percent of total volumes.
\nA total of 325 companies traded shares in the stock exchange, out of which shares of 145 closed up, shares of 156 closed down while shares of 24 companies remained unchanged. A total of 94 companies traded shares in the KSE-100 Index, out of which shares of 41 companies closed up, 51 closed down and two remained unchanged. The number of total trades remained 155,256, while the value traded decreased by Rs3.9 billion to Rs11.94 billion.
\nIn terms of rupee, PSEL remained the top gainer and witnessed an increase of Rs48.8 (+6.42 percent) per share, closing at Rs808.8. The runner-up remained NRL, the share price of which climbed up by Rs13 (+7.5 percent) to Rs186.34. IBFL remained the top loser in terms of rupee and witnessed a decrease of Rs20.49 (-7.45 percent) per share, closing at Rs254.5, followed by MARI, the share price of which fell by Rs13.01 (-0.84 percent) to close at Rs1,532.98 per share.
\nThe sectors taking the index towards south were fertilizer (57 points), oil & gas exploration companies (55 points), automobile assembler (22 points), cement (15 points), and insurance (12 points). The major companies depriving the index of points remained ENGRO (26 points), OGDC (24 points), EFERT (22 points), MTL (21 points), and BAHL (16 points).
\nThe sectors taking the index towards north were technology & communication (76 points), miscellaneous (36 points), power generation & distribution (25 points), refinery (20 points), and oil & gas marketing companies (11 points). The major companies adding points to the index remained SYS (64 points), PSEL (27 points), HBL (21 points), KAPCO (20 points), and THALL (10 points).<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
KARACHI Pakistan Stock Exchange (PSX) closed flat after a volatile session on Wednesday, with the benchmark KSE-100 Index losing 4.18 points (-0.01 percent) to close at 43,552.83 points. The market opened on a positive note and witnessed a bull-run during the trading in the first hour and a quarter, before profit-taking stepped in to pare […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":255695,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-341646","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-business"},"yoast_head":"\n