By Hamid Mahmood ISLAMABAD, December 30 (INP-WealthPK): The stock market started out on a positive note last week. Throughout the week, Pakistan Stock Exchange's (PSX) benchmark index remained volatile and ended the week negative, but still stayed in the green. News flow linked to the likely restoration of the dormant International Monetary Fund (IMF) program, the mini-budget, current account deficit, the spread of new Covid variant, inflation, and rupee depreciation dominated the stock market’s performance throughout the week. These probable developments piqued the market interest. Despite this, the market began at 43,900.68 points and ended at 44,118.39 points, a gain of 217.71 points or 0.49 percent over the previous week. All share index gained 175.38 points and KSE-30 Index gained 55.33 points from the week. The KSE Meezan Index (KMI 30) lost their points up to 171.69 on a week-on-week basis.

Index	Week End	Week Start	Change	% Δ
KSE-100 Index	44,118.39	43,900.68	217.71	0.49591
All Shares Index	30,203.93	30,028.55	175.38	0.58404
KSE-30 Index	17,353.47	17,298.14	55.330	0.31986
KMI-30 Index	70,986.79	71,158.48	(171.69)	(0.2413)

Source: PSX Stocks rose on Monday last week, boosted by the central bank's suggestion of a pause in its monetary tightening measures to guarantee a long-term economic recovery. The benchmark KSE-100 Index, which measures the robustness of the country's capital market, increased by 439.27 points, or 1 percent, to 44,339.95 points, with highs and lows of 44,484.76 and 43,808.84 points, respectively. Stocks fell victim to profit-taking on Tuesday, as a widening current account deficit heightened concerns that the economy still had a long way to go before attaining stability. The KSE-100 Index fell 162.88 points to 44,177.07 points. Stocks were basically flat on Wednesday as mini-budget conscious investors trod on eggshells amid intermittent spurts of profit-taking as there is almost no good news on the economic front. The KSE-100 Index fell to 44,174.97 points, a drop of 2.10 points. Due to the lack of positive triggers, the stock market remained range-bound on Thursday, with investors mostly concentrated in  tier-3 firms in the technology and investment banking sectors. The KSE-100 Index rose 91.93 points, or 0.21 percent, to 44,266.90 points, up from 44,174.97 points the day before. On Friday, the stock market finished the week in negative territory, as investors weighed the bleak economic outlook and institutional buyers focused on value stocks. The benchmark KSE 100-share index fell 0.34 percent, or 148.52 points, to 44,118.39 points, down from 44,266.91 points the previous day. The index reached an intraday high of 44,468.89 points, while it fell to 44,041.62 points at the end of the day. Last week, foreign investors were looking to acquire shares worth up to $3.68 million. Foreign corporations bought shares worth up to $2.11 million last week, followed by insurance firms, which bought shares worth $2.09 million. The mutual fund went on sale and achieved a profit of $3.60 million, making it the week's greatest selling. Individuals that followed suit made up to $2.59 million in profit. Banking made a profit of $2.06 million as well. Analysts said the market is projected to remain range-bound during the current week because this is rollover week. Furthermore, there may be a mini-budget in the near future, and the market will respond to any new tariffs or subsidies imposed, re-imposed, or removed. Banking (Allied Bank, Habib Bank, Muslim Commercial Bank), Petroleum (Pakistan State Oil, Oil & Gas Development Company), Automobile (Indus Motor) and Cement sectors (Lucky cement) are the favored stocks for the next week.