KARACHI: Pakistan equities closed Wednesday positive as investors tracked international markets that somewhat recovered after witnessing sharp losses lately. The KSE-100 index edged up higher with the benchmark KSE-100 Index settling at 44,096 levels, up 0.5 percent day-on-day (DoD) after reaching a high of +414 points. Day kicked off on a positive note as wider market opened the gap up and traded higher however couldn’t sustain that level for long and settled +0.5 percent up as cautious investors sold into the rally during the day. Market started the day on a positive note after the global markets exhibited a cumulative sigh of ease following the bounce back of Wall Street. On the political front, the US State Dept. said that they could consider ending suspension of security assistance to Pakistan, if Islamabad takes “decisive and sustained” actions against militant groups in the country. Institutional buying was evident in select names with United Bank UBL PA +2.5% leading gains in the Financial sector while Oil & Gas Dev Co OGDC PA +1.7% being the star performer from E&Ps sector. Highlight of the day was Sindh High Court’s final judgment regarding case of increase in regulatory duties during October, wherein the Court declared the said Statutory Regulatory Order as null & void; Steel Sector initially declined as investors mistakenly perceived that regulatory duties on steel products were increased in this nullified SRO, however the stocks pared losses with investors later realizing no material impact on steel sector. Ali Raza of Elixir Securities sees market to remain volatile with institutional flows and earnings announcements guiding the market direction. On the economic front, one of the Chinese companies has shown interest in investing $1billion in “Pakistan Post Logistics Company” which would help Pakistan Post become a profitable entity, whereas work on $8.6 billion CPEC rail line is unlikely to begin soon due to slowing down of work pace. Traded volumes slightly improved by 13 percent DoD to 270 million shares while value traded picked up to $ 103 million. Top volume stocks were TRG (-0.05%) ANL (+6.05%), ASL (-2.15%) and SSGC (+2.92). Positive sentiments were witnessed in the Gas Utilities, where SNGP (+1.16%) and SSGC (+2.92%) closed positive. Active participation was seen in SSGC as the Petroleum Division has sought waiver of liquidated damages for non-supply of gas to an IPP. APL (-0.35%) and PSO (-0.32%) closed in the red. PSO came under the hammer as receivables of Pakistan State Oil (PSO) have gone up to Rs 334.1 billion because of default of power sector to the tune of Rs283 billion. In the E&P sector, POL (+0.49%) and OGDC (+1.69%) closed in the green as oil ticked higher in the International market on bets for drop in U.S. Crude supplies. “We expect market to remain positive with flows from the local institutions and foreigners directing the market”, said JS Research’s analyst Danish Ladhani. Published in Daily Times, February 8th 2018.