Volatility at bourse, PSX remains flattish

A day after historic buying, volatility was observed at the Pakistan Stock Exchange (PSX) during the trading session on Thursday, with the benchmark KSE-100 Index closing with a loss of nearly 300 points.

Range-bound trading was observed for most part of the day, with the index hitting an intra-day high of 166,962.17 and an intra-day low of 161,993.00.

At close, the benchmark index settled at 165,517.51, down by 293.50 points or 0.18%.

“The downward pressure on the index was primarily driven by index-heavy stocks, with BAHL, MARI, HUBC, FFC, and MCB emerging as key laggards, collectively eroding 809 points from the benchmark,” brokerage house Topline Securities said in its post-market report.

Conversely, selective buying interest in UBL, LUCK, and FCCL provided partial support, contributing a cumulative 568 points and aiding the index in recovering a portion of its intraday losses, it added. On Wednesday, the KSE-100 Index surged by an unprecedented 14,137.55 points or 9.32 percent to close at 165,811.01 points.

Internationally, Asian share markets were in a more sober mood on ​Thursday as cracks quickly began to appear in the fragile Gulf ceasefire, nudging oil prices back up and reminding ‌investors the inflationary fallout will last for a long time yet.

As a result prices for US crude futures edged up 2.8% to $96.99 a barrel, ​while Brent rose 2.1% to $96.74.

Japan’s Nikkei dithered either side of flat, after jumping 5.4% the previous session. South Korea dipped 0.4%, following a leap of 6.8%. MSCI’s broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan eased 0.3%.

On Wall Street, S&P 500 futures and Nasdaq futures were both off 0.2% as ​Wednesday’s surge petered out.

For a mixed Europe, EUROSTOXX 50 futures inched up 0.1%, DAX futures fell 0.3% and FTSE futures rose ​0.5%.

Meanwhile, the Pakistani rupee registered marginal gain, appreciating 0.01% against the US dollar in the inter-bank market on Thursday. At close, the local currency settled at 279.02, a gain of Re0.03, against the greenback.

Volume on the all-share index decreased to 888.57 million from 1,245.18 million recorded in the previous close.

The value of shares dropped to Rs54.28 billion from Rs54.40 billion in the previous session.

WorldCall Telecom was the volume leader with 105.84 million shares, followed by F. Nat.Equities with 81.61 million shares, and K-Electric Ltd with 63.97 million shares.

Shares of 489 companies were traded on Thursday, of which 162 registered an increase, 290 recorded a fall, and 37 remained unchanged.