Oil and banking sector lead the increase in addition to rumours of foreign buying. PHOTO: FILE
Investors remained on the sidelines amid political uncertainty and lack of triggers with the KSE-100 witnessing wild swings in the opening hour before settling near 42,350.
At close, the benchmark KSE 100-share Index recorded a rise of 72.72 points or 0.17% to stand at 42,362.87.
According to Elixir Securities, Pakistan equities closed marginally higher with range-bound trading and dull volumes.
"Wednesday's foreign net buying failed to induce local interest as political noise, lack of immediate positive triggers and upcoming Ashura kept most participants at bay," the report said.
"Oil was the only mainstream sector to close in the green with Pakistan Oilfields (+3.6%) being the star performer due to the high possibility of a sizeable production from its recently announced hydrocarbon discovery.
Market watch: Foreigners buy, but KSE-100 ends fifth session in the red
"Meanwhile, interest returned in National Bank (-2.1%) with plenty of shares changing hands on system after it hit the lower limit for three consecutive sessions post announcement of Supreme Court's unfavourable decision in pension liability case.
"We see listless trading to continue in the near-term with the index consolidating in a range of 500 points," the report added.
JS Global analyst Maaz Mulla said the market remained range-bound with the benchmark Index making an intraday low of -95 points and a high of +166 points, to finally close at 42,363 (+73 points).
"Total volumes for the day clocked in at 140 million shares as compared to 147 million shares in the previous trading session.
"BOP (+3.90%) from the banking sector led the volume charts with 12.3 million shares exchanging hands. Oil sector closed positive on higher crude oil prices, spurred by rising tensions around northern Iraq following the autonomous Kurdistan region's vote in favour of independence in a referendum.
"Major gainers amongst oil plays were POL (+3.56%), ATRL (+3.05%) and PSO (+0.88%), cumulatively contributing 57 points to the index.
"On the other hand, selling pressure was witnessed in the cement sector on expected weak off-take for the month of Sept-2017. LUCK (-1.04%), MLCF (-2.70%) dragged down the index.
Market watch: Index slips in the red despite oil price surge
"Moving forward, we expect volatility to continue unless any unexpected clarity emerges over the on-going political scenario. We recommend investors to remain cautious," he added.
Overall, trading volumes fell to 140 million shares compared with Wednesday's tally of 146 million.
Shares of 382 companies were traded. At the end of the day, 234 stocks closed higher, 127 declined while 21 remained unchanged. The value of shares traded during the day was Rs6.04 billion.
Bank of Punjab was the volume leader with 12.3 million shares, gaining Rs0.36 to close at Rs9.60. It was followed by Kohinoor Spinning with 10.3 million shares, gaining Rs0.19 to close at Rs6.30 and TRG Pak with 7.35 million shares, gaining Rs0.06 to close at Rs37.10.
Foreign institutional investors were net sellers of Rs158 million during the trading session, according to data compiled by the National Clearing Company of Pakistan Limited.
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