KARACHI -  Concerns over ongoing Pak-US relations kept the market volatile on Wednesday as KSE 100-index traded between a wide range of 41,289 points to 41,820 points and finally closed at 57 points higher at 41,544 points.

The 100-index saw active trading session with local funds and foreign investors making their presence felt. Post-December closing, institutional investors, who had high cash positions, have started increasing their equity positions, especially in cement, banks and fertilizer sectors which is aided by low valuations, inflationary expectations and volumetric increase respectively, said AHL brokerage report.

On the news front, the State Bank of Pakistan has allowed Pakistani and Chinese enterprises to trade in Chinese Yuan (CNY). Investors’ interest was witnessed in the E&P sector as crude oil prices remained at higher levels in the international market, where POL (up 1.4%), PPL (1.4%) and OGDC (1.5%) closed in the green zone. SAZEW (up 0.8%) released material information that the auto maker has decided to incur a capex of Rs1.76b for its four wheeler assembly project of 24000 units per annum. Also, news regarding pipeline augmentation project of RLNG played well for SNGP (up 2.6%) as stock closed higher than its previous close, stated analysts at JS Global.

Scrips that contributed positively included OGDC that added 32 points, PPL 30 points, POL 19 points, KEL 15 points, and SNGP that contributed 14 points to the index gain.

Stocks that contributed negatively include NESTLE that shed 27 points, HBL 24 points, KTML 11 points, PMPK 10 points and ABOT that took away 9 points from the index.

Stocks that contributed significantly to the volumes included KEL, BOP, TRG, WTL and FCCL contributing a total of 92m shares, reflecting 39% share of total volumes.

Market participants said prevailing political situation may shake investor confidence for the short term, therefore advised investors to book profits on higher side.