Market watch: KSE-100 inches up in lacklustre trading

Benchmark index increases 57.88 points to settle at 38,308.92

KARACHI: The stock market experienced a see-saw session on Monday amid lacklustre trading, gaining 58 points to finish the day in the black.

The KSE-100 index opened down and continued its descent as investors remained on the sidelines. Later, buying at attractive valuations helped the index recover the lost ground, pushing it past 38,300.

Developments on the political front, regarding former prime minister Nawaz Sharif's conviction in the Al-Azizia case, failed to have any major impact.

At the end of trading, the benchmark KSE 100-share Index recorded an increase of just 57.88 points or 0.15% to settle at 38,308.92.



Elixir Securities' analyst Murtaza Jafar said the benchmark KSE-100 index remained negative from the beginning of trading hours as investors stood on the sidelines due to political uncertainty due to graft cases against Nawaz Sharif of Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz and Asif Zardari of Pakistan Peoples Party.

"The market managed to recover the lost ground after the National Accountability Court convicted former prime minister Nawaz Sharif in the Al-Azizia reference. Political uncertainty related to former president Zardari's case has largely diminished as the court though has found irregularities in the fake accounts case, the hearing has been adjourned till December31," Jafar said.

"Going forward, we expect investors to continue to focus mainly on developments in negotiations between Pakistan and the International Monetary Fund."

Overall, trading volumes decreased to 74.7 million shares compared with Friday's tally of 130.4 million. The value of shares traded during the day was Rs3.4 billion.



Shares of 330 companies were traded. At the end of the day, 133 stocks closed higher, 165 declined and 32 remained unchanged.

Fatima Fertilizer was the volume leader with 10.1 million shares, gaining Rs0.90 to close at Rs35.05. It was followed by K-Electric with 6.4 million shares, gaining Rs0.01 to close at Rs6.03 and Pak Elektron with 5.5 million shares, gaining Rs0.25 to close at Rs27.25.

Foreign institutional investors were net sellers of Rs22.99 million worth of shares during the trading session, according to data compiled by the National Clearing Company of Pakistan.