Pakistan stocks post minor gains in a volatile session

Pakistan's stock market ended the trading day on a positive note, despite experiencing significant volatility throughout the session.

The banking sector faced notable pressure, remaining in the red due to ongoing concerns about potential tax adjustments related to the advances-to-deposit ratio (ADR) taxation.

The benchmark index moved in a band of 2,500 points touching the high of 115,172.44 points and a low of 112,609 points.

Speculations over monetary policy announcement next week amid thin inflation as well as surging global crude oil prices helped the index close in the positive territory.

The KSE-100 index gained 121.30 points or 0.11% to close at 114,301.80 points.

Indian stocks ended the day much higher. They started lower on Friday because of weak metal stocks, a strong U.S. dollar, and uncertainty about China's stimulus plans.

However, falling food prices and price hikes by FMCG companies helped lift the market. Recent gains have helped recover some of the losses, with indices rising a few percent over the last four days.

BSE-100 index gained 189.11 points or 0.73% to close at 26,274.29 points.

DFM General index gained 18.02 points or 0.37% to close at 4,829.63 points.

Commodities

Oil prices went up by more than 1% on Friday and are on track for their first weekly increase since late November.

This rise is due to new sanctions on Russia that have caused concerns about supply. However, market worries about having too much oil also affected prices.

Additionally, data from China this week showed that in November, their crude oil imports grew for the first time in seven months because of lower prices and stockpiling.

Brent crude prices gained 0.91% to $74.08 per barrel.

Gold prices fell on Friday because people were selling their gold to make a profit.

However, despite this drop, gold has had a great year and is set to have its best performance in over ten years, rising 28% by November.

The high demand from central banks and investors has made up for the decrease in consumer demand.

International gold prices declined 0.75% reaching $2,665.27 per ounce. In Pakistan, gold prices increased by PKR 2,300 to PKR 282,800/tola.

Currency

US dollar eased against PKR in the inter-bank market, down 0.06%. Pakistani currency settled at 278.11 with a loss of 12 paisas. In the open market USD was trading at PKR 279.