Stocks inch up in range-bound trading

Bulls fought bears on Wednesday in a range-bound session on the Pakistan Stock Exchange. Arif Habib Ltd said the index traded within a narrow band due to the investors’ concerns about rising political noise and the continuous hammering of the rupee against the dollar. The benchmark moved sideways a volatile session, with decent main-board volumes. The national currency closed at 234.32 per dollar after depreciating 1.02 per cent from a day ago. Analysts believe the rupee is losing value owing to high inflation in the United States, which is strengthening the dollar in the global markets. “The highlight of the day was massive volumes of over 11 million shares in the Hub Power Company Ltd where market gossip was that the company may announce a special dividend after getting the tranche of likely payment to (independent power producers) related to CPEC by the government next week,” said Topline Securities.