The business week ended on a modest note on the Pakistan Stock Exchange. However, a decrease in the buying and selling of shares and a decline in the shares of most companies kept the overall trend of the market mixed.
The benchmark KSE -100 index closed at 166,419.72 points, up 233.55 points, or 0.14 percent, on Friday. The index was at 166,186.17 points in the previous trading session. Thus, the market ended the last session of the week with limited gains.
According to Pakistan Stock Exchange data, the index reached a low of 165,956.51 points during trading, while the day’s high was 166,708.36 points. This volatility shows that the competition between buyers and sellers continued, but the index ended in the positive zone.
The total trading volume in the market was about 396.9 million shares, while about 517.6 million shares were traded in the previous session. The value of trading on Friday was around Rs 18.67 billion 90 million, which was more than Rs 23.57 billion a day earlier. This decline indicated a relative slowdown in investor activity.
On the other hand, the total market value increased to about Rs 18.479 trillion, from about Rs 18.475 trillion the previous day. Thus, despite the limited increase, a slight improvement was recorded in market capitalisation.
Looking at the performance of shares, out of 498 companies trading, 211 increased their share prices, 254 decreased, and 33 companies closed unchanged. This distribution shows that despite the positive end of the benchmark index, the selling pressure in the market continued on many companies.
The important question for investors now is whether the buying trend will strengthen further in the coming trading sessions or the market will remain in a limited range. Along with the direction of the index, trading volume, financial results of companies and economic conditions will also be important in determining the next trend of the market.
