Bulls regain control as stock market rises

KARACHI: The Pakistan Stock Exchange witnessed an upward trajectory on Wednesday after a dismal two days of the ongoing week as bulls returned to regain control of the stock market.

The benchmark KSE 100 index increased by 399.17 points (0.99%) and closed at 40,574.52 points. The indices shot up during intra-day trading and reached its highest level at 40,644.06 points before trading was suspended. The total volume of shares increased to 109.559 million valued at Rs5.779 billion.

Meanwhile, the KSE 30 index increased by 198.11 points (1.07%) and closed at 18,793.12 points. The total volume of shares was 57.809 million. The share prices of the top active stock end in the green including Unity (5.25%), Hascol (3.82%), DGKC (4.42%), MLCF (3.71%), TRG (4.11%), OGDC (2.81%) followed by AVN (3.86%), PPL (1.19%) and FFL (3.62%).

Trading on the stock market has remained flat for the ongoing week over muted investor confidence and economic uncertainty. The KSE 100 index lost 102 points yesterday over lacklustre trading and a minuscule change on the opening day of the week. The subdued investor sentiment erased gains even though the bourse managed to cross the 40,500 points level.

The market was cautious over Pakistan’s fate at the Financial Action Task Force (FATF) as a plenary session is being held in Paris to decide on the country’s performance on an action plan. The global body is expected to decide whether to remove Pakistan from the grey list. A decision is not expected before February 21 but a surprise move could affect the stock market.