Stocks manage modest gains in sluggish trade

Pakistan equities posted another range-bound session on Tuesday owing to the absence of triggers, said Ismail Iqbal Securities Ltd. The benchmark index traded in the positive zone despite lacklustre activity throughout the trading session because of the political instability. Investors’ participation remained sluggish as volumes continued to fall, said Arif Habib Ltd. Analyst Ahsan Mehanti said a bull run in global equities, higher global crude oil prices and a favourable statement by the US government on the safety of Pakistan’s nuclear assets played the role of a catalyst in the bullish close. As a result, the KSE-100 index settled at 41,839.27 points, up 83.82 points or 0.2 per cent from the preceding session. The trading volume decreased 42.1pc to 190.3 million shares while the traded value went down 39.8pc to $26.4m on a day-on-day basis.