Stocks range bound in another sluggish session

Karachi Stock Exchange benchmark 100-share index ends 9.68 points higher at 11,145.02.

KARACHI: Stocks ended marginally higher in a highly volatile market amid low volumes on Friday as investors stayed cautious ahead of the monetary policy next week.

The Karachi Stock Exchange benchmark 100-share index ended 0.09 per cent or 9.68 points higher at 11,145.02.

The State Bank of Pakistan is scheduled to announce the monetary policy on Monday. Most analysts expect the central bank to raise its key rate by 50 basis points to 14 per cent.

During first half of the day, the market saw some selling pressure with low volumes but the situation changed in the last half hour when 20 million shares were traded, informed JS Global Capital analyst Arsalan Khan.

Pressure in regional markets also kept foreigners on the sidelines in the local bourse, said Topline Securities analyst Samar Iqbal.

Senate’s approval of the Reformed General Sales Tax (RGST) also failed to boost investor sentiment, added Iqbal. Proposals by the standing committee on finance regarding the RGST were presented in Senate session on Friday.

Selling pressure was witnessed in blue chips and other noticeable stocks and most of the highly weighted scrips closed in the negative.

The trading volume decreased by 2.3 per cent to 84.2 million shares compared with the preceding day’s 86.1 million shares. Shares of 385 companies were traded on Friday. At the end of the day, 176 stocks closed higher, 190 declined and 19 remained unchanged. The value of shares traded during the day was Rs3.01 billion.

Pioneer Cement was the volume leader with 11.8 million shares losing 2.4 per cent to finish at Rs6.98. It was followed by JS Value Fund with 7.51 million shares gaining Rs1 to close at Rs4.62 and Byco Petroleum with 6.74 million shares gaining Rs0.01 to close at Rs12.06.

Published in The Express Tribune, November 27^th, 2010.