KARACHI: The benchmark index of the Pakistan Stock Exchange closed on the higher side after oscillating within a narrow range on Thursday.

Topline Securities said investors kept a close eye on the outcome of the Monetary Policy Comm­ittee’s meeting to review the key interest rate.

The central bank’s body decided to maintain the interest rate at 22 per cent, which was in contrast with the prevailing market consensus around an increase of 100-150 basis points.

According to Arif Habib Ltd, the stock market is currently in “no man’s land” meaning the benchmark is hovering between the resistance level of 46,000 points and the short-term support level of 45,400 points.

“[Friday] should bring a decisive move either way as [the monetary policy decision] and the Financial Times Stock Exchange Index rebalancing inject volatility into the market,” it added.

As a result, the KSE-100 index settled at 45,650.06 points, up 59.13 points or 0.13pc from the preceding session.

The overall trading volume increased 34.4pc to 138.1 million shares. The traded value decreased 26.9pc to Rs2.7 billion on a day-on-day basis.

Stocks contributing significantly to the traded volume included K-Electric Ltd (18m shares), Al-Shaheer Corporation Ltd (18m shares), Maple Leaf Cement Factory Ltd (8.1m shares), Agritech Ltd (7.2m shares) and WorldCall Telecom Ltd (5m shares).

Companies registering the biggest increases in their share prices in absolute terms were Premium Textile Mills Ltd (Rs26), Pakistan Services Ltd (Rs20), Dawood Lawrencepur Ltd (Rs12.01), Al-Abbas Sugar Mills Ltd (Rs10) and Pakistan Hotels Developers Ltd (Rs9.25).

Companies that recorded the biggest declines in their share prices in absolute terms were Allawasaya Textile and Finishing Mills Ltd (Rs110), Nestle Pakistan Ltd (Rs85), Pakistan Tobacco Company Ltd (Rs27), Bata Pakistan Ltd (Rs25) and Mehmood Textile Mills Ltd (Rs20).

Foreign investors were net sellers as they offloaded shares worth $0.25m.

Published in Dawn, September 15th, 2023