KARACHI
Pakistan Stock Exchange (PSX) turned bullish on Thursday and the KSE-100 Index surged by 332.13 points (+0.70 percent) to settle at 47,750.76 points.
The market opened on a positive note and remained in the green throughout the session. The banking sector continued to make a significant contribution to the local bourse due to positive news regarding its earnings. Bank Islami Pakistan Limited (BIPL) achieved a profit of Rs5.10 billion [EPS: Rs4.60] in the first half of 2023, marking a substantial surge of 353 percent on a year-on-year basis.
The benchmark index staged a strong recovery and rebounded strongly from the 47,000 support level that it tested in the previous session. However, profit-taking was witnessed soon after the index neared the 48,000 points, eroding some of the gains of the day.
The benchmark index traded in a range of 530.5 points showing an intraday high of 47,994.18 points and an intraday low of 47,463.68 points. Among other indices, the KSE All Share Index gained 192.18 points (+0.61 percent) to close at 31,686.29 points, while KMI All Share Islamic Index shed 78.73 points (+0.34 percent) to close at 23,057.99 points.
Total volumes traded for the KSE-100 Index increased by 72.20 million shares to 168.48 million shares against 96.28 million shares traded a session earlier. Similarly, the overall market volumes increased by 63.01 million shares to 251.69 million shares against 188.68 million shares traded a session earlier.
Among scrips, FABL topped the volumes with 21.92 million shares, followed by NCPL (15.28 million) and GATM (14.66 million). Stocks that contributed significantly to the volumes included FABL, NCPL, GATM, OGDC, and FCCL, which formed over 30 percent of total volumes. A total of 316 companies traded shares in the stock exchange against 321 a session earlier, out of which shares of 173 closed up, shares of 114 closed down while shares of 29 companies remained unchanged. A total of 93 companies traded shares in the KSE-100 Index against the same number of companies a session earlier, out of which share price of 58 companies closed up, 28 closed down and seven remained unchanged.
The number of total trades increased by 8,870 to 111,011 as compared to 102,141 trades recorded in the previous session, while the value traded increased by Rs4.01 billion to Rs12.80 billion as compared to the previous session.
MARI remained the top gainer and witnessed an increase of Rs18.86 (+1.15 percent) per share, closing at Rs1,655.82. The runner-up remained BWHL, the share price of which climbed up by Rs11.17 (+7.5 percent) to Rs160.07. NESTLE remained the top loser in terms of rupee and witnessed a decrease of Rs102.17 (-1.42 percent) per share, closing at Rs7,097.83, followed by BATA, the share price of which fell by Rs9 (-0.51 percent) to close at Rs1,760 per share.
