KARACHI – The local bourse seemed in disarray as the benchmark index moved in both upwards and downwards direction. Market activity remained sluggish as merely 74 million shares were traded, slightly better in contrast with the preceding day. The KSE-100 index gained 28.09 points to close at 11901.37 levels, while total volume and total value stood at 60,453,236 and 2,909,605,618 respectively.
Mixed sentiments prevailed as major E and P stocks exhibited some profit taking. However, late hour buying led PPL to close in the green, while POL and OGDC were down 0.2 percent and 0.5 percent, respectively. Among Fertiliser stocks, Engro closed up 0.5 percent following profit taking, while FFC underwent mild pruning to close down 0.04 percent. On the contrary, Indus Motors jumped 4.1 percent over rumors of launch of its new Corolla model. Top tier liquid stocks were unable to make it to the volume leader board, reflecting weak sentiments. This was regardless of the fact that volume leaders traded largely in the green zone. Among top tier banking stocks, HBL outshined, while UBL’s performance was slightly better over its pears. Furthermore, oil, fertiliser and power stocks were unable to fuel the bullish sentiment. Prolonged stagnation and low volatility in recent sessions finally invited low volume price erosion, wherein the high priced stocks stayed the target, as float came in from retail and corporate circuits. Meanwhile, early decline did invite renewed buying interest in wide spread stocks. Some participants capitalised on dividend yielding stocks, while others looked for short term gains in high priced, thus allowing the benchmark to re-enter the green zone and sustain positivism for the day.
