PSX closes with modest gains of 400 points

According to The Express Tribune, the Pakistan Stock Exchange finished Friday mildly higher, with the KSE-100 at 175,328 points. The benchmark gained 0.24 per cent, or 399 points, after most of the session was spent under pressure. Participants traded 259 million shares during the day.

CNERGY drew the heaviest activity with about 149 million shares, followed by BOP, MLCF and PPL at 13 million, 10 million and 9 million shares respectively. Commercial banks, oil and gas and cement names added to the index, while refineries dragged on overall sentiment. Among individual stocks, MEBL, BAHL, MARI, PPL and OGDC finished in the green.

Brent crude hovered between $95 and $96 per barrel, keeping energy prices a central worry for traders. Ahmed Sheraz of KASB KTrade described trading as uneven, with the index weighed down for much of the day before recovering near the close. Profit-taking on Friday and cautious participation limited volumes, while no new flare-up in US-Iran tensions kept geopolitical risk relatively contained.