KARACHI: The Pakistan Stock Exchange (PSX) opened on Friday under selling pressure, pushing the benchmark index below 177,000 points to an intraday low. Late buying at attractive valuations helped reverse the downturn, and the market closed higher in the weekend session.
Topline Securities Ltd said the index staged a notable intraday recovery, closing at 177,873.88, up 500.11 points, or 0.28 per cent. The benchmark remained volatile throughout the session, swinging between an intraday high of 1,910 points and a low of 508 points, reflecting mixed investor sentiment.
Market sentiment received a significant boost in the latter half of the session following material news from Mari Energies. Through its wholly owned subsidiary,Mari Minerals, the company announced a new porphyry copper-gold discovery at the East Siah Dig (ESD-1) target in Chagai, Balochistan. The development sparked renewed investor interestand helped turn sentiment positive, providing fresh impetus to the market’s recovery.
The discovery underscores the potential of Pakistan’s mineral resources and adds to thegrowing optimism about the country’s mining and exploration sector.
Mari Energies, Lucky Cement, Pakistan Petroleum, Pakistan Services and Fatima Fertiliser emerged as theleading positive contributors, collectively adding approximately 722 points to the benchmark index and providing substantial support to the market’s overall performance.
Meanwhile, market par-ticipation remained flat as trading volume dipped 2.58pc to 1.042 billion shares and turnover fell 2pc to Rs31bn.
Ali Najib, Deputy Head of Trading at Arif Habib Ltd, said volatility persisted as the market remained volatile amid cautious sentiment following two consecutive sessions of moderate to heavy selling. Investor sentiment improved in the second half, as likely institutional buying absorbed early profit-taking, with buying observed in energy, banking and technology stocks despite domestic political uncertainty and renewed tensions in the Strait of Hormuz.
Analysts expect the market to remain volatile amid domestic political uncertainty and profittaking near the 180,000 resistance level. Selective buying may emerge at lower levels as investors turn their attention to domestic political developments.