KARACHI - Pakistan Stocks Exchange (PSX) witnessed volatile session on Tuesday. The index initially rallied by around 265 points but succumbed to pressure amid increased political noise to close the day on a flattish note, dealers said.
The benchmark 100-share index closed up by 11.75 points at 36,137.12 points, led by oil stocks as international oil prices hit 6 month high, brokers said. Volume increased by 25% to 274m shares while value also rose by 52% to Rs 11.4b/109$m.
Rally in E&P sector was witnessed amid increased global crude oil prices due to disruption of supply from Canada and Nigeria. Top performers of the aforementioned sector were OGDC (up 1.51%) and PPL (rose 1.65%). FEROZ (higher 5.0%) hit its upper limit with in the first trading hour on back of news that the firm got approval from Drug Regulation Authority Pakistan (DRAP) to produce Hepatitis C drugs at five times lower price. Cement sector came under pressure on the back of furnace oil prices rising by 8.2%.
Marginal correction continued in scrips that are expected to be included in MSCI emerging market index as UBL (down 0.04%), HUBC (decline 2.14%) and LUCK (dip 1.19%) closed in the red zone, observed analyst Ahmed Saeed Khan at JS Global. HCAR announced EPS of 7.9/share along with a cash dividend of Rs7/share.
Although result was slightly above expectations, stock declined by 1.1%.
Continued interest was observed in PIBTL which was the volume leader with 59m shares traded. Stock closed at its upper limit, said dealers at sales desk Topline brokerage.
