KARACHI
Pakistan Stock Exchange (PSX) turned positive on Friday, with the KSE-100 Index breaching the 46,000 points level to settle at 46,013.48 points with a gain of 256.25 points (+0.56 percent).
The market opened on a positive note but took a dip within minutes to hit the day’s low. Later, the indices remained in the green territory throughout the session. The Pakistani rupee extended gains against the US dollar in both interbank and open markets by around Rs2 but the market remained somewhat unaffected, fearing a hike in interest rate in the coming week on September 14.
The latest treasury-bills auction on Thursday last witnessed a sharp increase in the cut-off yields, reaching 24.5 percent, 24.78 percent, and 25.06percent for three, six, and 12 months respectively. This showed a rise of 162bps for 3 months and 213bps for 12 months as compared to the last auction held on August 23. This indicates that the market is pricing in a higher interest rate scenario in the near future. However, the benchmark index marked a gain of 700 points during the week.
The benchmark index traded in a range of 348.49 points, showing an intraday high of 46,077.38 points and an intraday low of 45,728.89 points. Among other indices, the KSE All Share Index gained 188.71 points (+0.61 percent) to close at 30,697.96 points, while KMI All Share Islamic Index gained 152.27 points (+0.69 percent) to close at 22,209.07 points.
Total volumes traded for the KSE-100 Index decreased by 31.01 million shares to 67.98 million shares against 98.99 million shares traded a session earlier. The overall market volumes decreased by 27.49 million shares to 149.57 million shares against 177.06 million shares traded a session earlier.
Among scrips, TPLP topped the volumes with 11.95 million shares, followed by WTL (11.04 million) and BAFL (9.27 million). Stocks that contributed significantly to the volumes included TPLP, WTL, BAFL, PIAA, and PPL, which formed over 31 percent of total volumes.
A total of 311 companies traded shares in the stock exchange against 320 a session earlier, out of which shares of 166 closed up, shares of 114 closed down while shares of 31 companies remained unchanged. A total of 89 companies traded shares in the KSE-100 Index against 93 a session earlier, out of which share price of 48 companies closed up, 35 closed down and six remained unchanged.
The number of total trades decreased by 31,132 to 86,803 as compared to 117,935 trades recorded in the previous session, while the value traded decreased by Rs2.03 billion to Rs5.55 billion as compared to Rs7.58 billion in the previous session.
In terms of rupee, NESTLE remained the top gainer and witnessed an increase of Rs100 (+1.43 percent) per share, closing at Rs7,100. The runner-up remained MEHT, the share price of which climbed up by Rs43.13 (+7.5 percent) to Rs618.13. RMPL remained the top loser in terms of rupee and witnessed a decrease of Rs150 (-1.88 percent) per share, closing at Rs7,850, followed by INDU, the share price of which fell by Rs12.3 (-1.28 percent) to close at Rs944.97 per share.
The major sectors taking the index towards north remained commercial banks (102 points), technology & communication (40 points), oil & gas exploration companies (31 points), power generation & distribution (30 points), and investment banks/ investment companies/ securities companies (25 points). The major companies adding points to the index remained PPL (39 points), BAFL (38 points), MEBL (37 points), HUBC (33 points), and SYS (29 points).
The sectors taking the index towards south were fertilizer (13 points), food & personal care products (6 points), miscellaneous (3 points), automobile assembler (2 points), and modarabas (1 point). The major companies depriving the index of points remained POL (21 points), ENGRO (14 points), NATF (12 points), and UBL and MARI (5 points each).
