KARACHI: The stock market managed to break the four-day losing streak on Thursday with the KSE-100 index closing the session with a gain of 151 points (0.37 per cent) at 40,813.

The index opened in the positive territory and remained in the green throughout the day. The index did not once slip below the previous day’s close and made intraday high of 223 points.

Quick bouts of buying and selling saw the index juggle within the green zone. The trading interest was at its low with participation mainly by the retail investors in penny stocks. Mutual funds, meanwhile, continued to take profit with sale of $2.96m worth stocks.

Elixir Securities stated that the equities traded in a narrow range as investors including institutions kept their participation to minimum in absence of triggers.

“Until the dust on the political front settles down, investors are likely to keep running around in circles,” commented a stockbroker. He added that investors were currently looking up to an upside as opportunity to book profits rather than to build fresh positions.

The volume was up 7pc over the previous day to 97m shares while the traded value was down 26pc to Rs5.02 billion.

HBL up 1.3pc, POL 1.4pc, Engro Corp 1.4pc, PPL 1.1pc and PAKT 5pc contributing 111 points to the index, while IGI Insurance down 4.8pc, Kapco 1.2pc, SNGPL 0.7pc, FCCL 1.5pc and Mari Petroleum 0.6pc, scrapping 31 points.

Engro managed to dispel fears that engulfed the stock after its expulsion from MSCI Emerging Market in the early week semi-annual review. The stock that saw hammering in the last two sessions, losing around 7.6pc, closed in the green. On the sector front, commercial banks contributed 69 points and E&P added 46 points.

Published in Dawn, November 17th, 2017