Market watch: Stocks end little changed in range-bound trading

Benchmark KSE-100 Index gains 31.09 points to settle at 40,844.40

KARACHI: The stock market traded in a narrow range on Friday and managed to end last trading day of the week on a positive note.

Market players noted a slight uptick in activity compared to the previous day as investors took positions in small-cap stocks. The KSE-100 Index started going down in the morning session, but later it recovered and climbed to touch an intra-day high at 40,900 points.

At close, the benchmark KSE 100-share Index registered an increase of 31.09 points or 0.08% to settle at 40,844.40.

JS Global analyst Maaz Mulla said a range-bound session was witnessed at the bourse as the KSE-100 Index traded between an intra-day high of +97 points and intra-day low of -176 points.

Most of the selling pressure came in the second half of the day, which pulled the market down.

The banking sector faced some hammering where major banks closed in the red. Habib Bank (-0.17%), United Bank (-0.35%) and National Bank (-0.37%) were major laggards of the sector.

Among oil marketing companies, Pakistan State Oil (-3.23%) closed in the red as the government imposed a ban on the use of furnace oil in power production due to the smog in upper Punjab.



The exploration and production sector led the gains as crude oil edged higher in the global market. Pakistan Oilfields (+0.54%), Pak Petroleum (+1.59%) and Oil and Gas Development Company (+1.03%) gained value.

"Moving forward, we recommend investors to stay cautious at current levels where any upside can be considered as an opportunity to reduce short-term positions or book profits," Mulla said.

Overall, trading volumes rose to 115 million shares compared with Thursday's tally of 96 million.

Shares of 349 companies were traded. At the end of the day, 178 stocks closed higher, 149 declined while 22 remained unchanged. The value of shares traded during the day was Rs5.5 billion.

TRG Pakistan was the volume leader with 15.9 million shares, gaining Rs1.75 to close at Rs36.79. It was followed by Azgard Nine with 12.7 million shares, gaining Rs0.51 to close at Rs15.66 and WorldCall Telecom with 9.9 million shares, losing Rs0.02 to close at Rs2.73.

Foreign institutional investors were net buyers of Rs163 million during the trading session, according to data compiled by the National Clearing Company of Pakistan.