KARACHI: The Pakistan Stock Exchange (PSX) eked out modest gains on Monday after sharp swings in the benchmark KSE-100 index. Selective buying helped the market close in positive territory despite persistent volatility.
Amid diplomatic efforts, geopolitical tensions and inflationary pressures continued to weigh on sentiment. High energy import costs and supply disruptions also challenged macroeconomic stability.
Topline Securities Ltd said the index traded range-bound, fluctuating between an intraday high of 166,989 points and a low of 165,585 points before closing slightly higher at 166,564.07 points, up 154.81 points or 0.09 per cent.
Investors maintained a cautious stance, weighing domestic inflationary concerns against easinginternational crude oil prices.
Buying interest was pri-marily seen in select heavyweight stocks from the commercial banking and cement sectors, while selective profit-taking capped the broader market’s gains.
Ali Najib, Deputy Head of Trading at Arif Habib Ltd, said the PSX recorded a flat session as the market remained volatile, tradingin both directions amid cautious investorsentiment despite easing internationaloilprices.
The index initially fell 824 points to an intraday low of 165,585 before staging a mid-session recovery of 581 points to 166,990.
However, renewed selling pressure in the final hour trimmed the gains, leaving the index below 167,000.
On the sectoral front, thegovernment chose to absorb the Rs14.71 per litre increase in petrol import costs by reducing the petroleum development levy (PDL)fromRs80toRs65.29 per litre, keeping consumer prices unchanged, while diesel pricing remained unchanged.
This effectively shifts the burden to refineries, resulting in an estimatedPDL impact of Rs49.02 per litre on refinery-supplied petrol, with no change in the levy’s collection.
The development triggered panicsellingacross the refinery sector, with Attock Refinery, Pakistan Refinery, National Refinery, and Cnergyico PK all closing at their lower circuits, down 10pc, 9.7pc, 10pc,and 10pc, respectively.
On the macroeconomic front, headline inflation eased to 9.6pc year-on-year in October from 10.3pc in September, driven mainly by a modest 0.25pc monthon-month increase in the housing component.
Meanwhile, the transport index rose 28.6pc year-on-year and 1.8pc month-on-month, while food inflation increased 7.7pc year-on-year and 2.3pc month-on-month, indicating continued passthrough of higher fuel coststofood prices.
Attock Refinery, Oil and Gas Development Company, PSO, Cnergyico PK and Pakistan Petroleum were the major laggards, collectively eroding approximately 466 points. Conversely, Mari Energies, Fauji Fertiliser, Engro Holdings, Pakistan Services and Hub Power provided some support, adding a cumulative 631 points to the index.
However, investor participation weakened sharply, with trading volume plunging 46.28pc to 443.4 million shares and turnover falling 23.31pc to Rs17.6bn.