Stocks inch up ahead of policy rate hike.

KARACHI -- Share prices moved within a short range on Monday before closing on the higher side.

Arif Habib Ltd said the index of representative shares opened in the green zone but the lack of investors' participation drove it down to the red territory. Investors opted to stay on the sidelines on account of the interest rate decision by the monetary policy committee of the State Bank of Pakistan, which was announced after the end of the trading session.

The trading volume dried up on the mainboard while third-tier companies continued to lead in terms of the number of shares traded.

As a result, the KSE-100 index settled at 38,443.59 points, up 35.61 points or 0.09 per cent from the preceding session.

The overall trading volume decreased 13pc to 81.3 million shares. The traded value went down 20.1pc to $12.2m on a day-on-day basis.

Stocks contributing significantly to the traded volume included Al-Shaheer Corporation Ltd (9.9m shares), TRG Pakistan Ltd (7.8m shares), WorldCall Telecom Ltd (5.9m shares), Ghani Chemical Ltd (5.6m shares) and Pakistan Petroleum Ltd (3.8m shares).

Sectors contributing the most to the index performance were...