KARACHI: Pakistan equities witnessed another session of lackluster and range bound trading on Thursday. General lack of interest was evident as turnover posted a gloomy figure with just under $40 million worth of shares exchanging hands on benchmark KSE 100 Index, down 26% against previous day. Market started on a weaker note and afterwards witnessed range bound trading with benchmark Index hopping in green and red multiple times till end of session. United Bank closed marginally lower after the bank announced earnings in line with consensus. Mari Petroleum, on the other hand, hit upper price limit intra-day on the announcement of stellar results before succumbing to profit-taking; the company in another notice also announced the acquisition of working interests in various development and exploratory blocks. Participation dipped with volumes falling 10% to 159 million shares while traded value shed 24% to Rs 6.3bn/$60 million. Top traded ALLSHR stocks were BOP, ANL, TRG, KEL & ASL with combined turnover 57 million shares (36% of total volume) Top 5 Index point performers were NESTLE (+4.9%), HUBC (+1.7%), BAHL (+2.5%), OGDC (+0.6%) and ABOT (+4.9%), adding 117 points, while LUCK (-1.1%), DAWH (-1.5%), UBL (-0.7%), ENGRO (-0.9%) & HBL (-0.4%) held back 66 points. On the sector front Food added 41 points, Power 27 points, E&Ps 15 points; while Fertilizer shed 26 points, Cement 19 points & OMC 17 points. UBL (-0.6%) etched 2Q2017 EPS of Rs4.7, down 18% YoY & inline with expectations; the bank declared dividend of Rs 3/share. The market is rife with speculation as the apex court will announce Panama case verdict today (Friday). Interior Minister, Chaudhry Nisar Khan also held much awaited press conference only to express his intention to quit politics after the court announces the verdict. The judgment is due in the first session which is likely to move the market to large extent depending on the verdict. Analysts predict record downward or upward movement in the index. Published in Daily Times, July 28th 2017.