KARACHI
The Pakistan Stock Exchange (PSX) extended its bullish momentum for the fifth consecutive session on Wednesday, with the benchmark KSE-100 Index gaining 265.18 points (+0.57 percent) to close at 46,682.52 points.
The market opened on a positive note and remained positive throughout the session. The market got a trigger to extend gains on news that China approved the deferment of a loan of $2.1 billion to Pakistan for two years. China’s Exim Bank has officially informed Pakistan through a letter about the loan deferment from July 21, 2023 to June 30, 2025. Moreover, a generous inflow of $600 million is expected from a consortium of two major Chinese banks in the coming days, which also kept the investors’ confidence high.
The benchmark index traded in a range of 225.21 points showing an intraday high of 46,724.57 points and an intraday low of 46,499.36 points. Among other indices, the KSE All Share Index gained 131.78 points (+0.42 percent) to close at 31,185.85 points, while KMI All Share Islamic Index gained 110.18 points (+0.48 percent) to close at 22,734.66 points.
Total volumes traded for the KSE-100 Index increased by 100.22 million shares to 243.06 million shares against 142.84 shares traded a session earlier. The overall market volumes increased by 109.63 million shares to 429.52 million shares against 319.89 million shares traded a session earlier.
Among scrips, KEL topped the volumes with 58.86 million shares, followed by WTL (22.24 million) and PRL (18.39 million). Stocks that contributed significantly to the volumes included KEL, WTL, PRL, CNERGY, and AGL, which formed over 29 percent of total volumes.
A total of 347 companies traded shares in the stock exchange against 345 a session earlier, out of which shares of 211 closed up, shares of 117 closed down while shares of 19 companies remained unchanged. A total of 96 companies traded shares in the KSE-100 Index against the same number of companies a session earlier, out of which share price of 62 companies closed up, 31 closed down and three remained unchanged.
The number of total trades increased by 26,167 to 163,739 against 137,572 trades in the previous session, while the value traded increased by Rs3.88 billion to Rs14.14 billion.
In terms of rupee, RCML remained the top gainer and witnessed an increase of Rs31.88 (+7.5 percent) per share, closing at Rs456.88. The runner-up remained ATRL, the share price of which climbed up by Rs12.27 (+5.76 percent) to Rs225.45. MEHT remained the top loser in terms of rupee and witnessed a decrease of Rs28.69 (-3.94 percent) per share, closing at Rs699, followed by PSEL, the share price of which fell by Rs20.01 (-2.6 percent) to close at Rs749.99 per share.
The sectors taking the index towards north were commercial banks (80 points), textile composite (38 points), power generation & distribution (37 points), oil & gas marketing companies (34 points), and technology & communication (30 points). The major companies adding points to the index remained MEBL (26 points), MCB and HUBC (23 points each), UBL (21 points), and PSO (19 points).
The sectors taking the index towards south were oil & gas exploration companies (28 points), miscellaneous (7 points), chemical (6 points), tobacco (2 points), and paper & board (1 point). The major companies depriving the index of points remained PPL (13 points), PSEL (11 points), HBL, OGDC and COLG (9 points each).
