KARACHI
Pakistan Stock Exchange (PSX) witnessed a bullish session on Friday, with the benchmark KSE-100 Index gaining 679.84 points (+1.04 percent) to close at 66,130.02 points.
The market opened on a positive note and remained in the green territory throughout the session. Though profit-taking was witnessed in the second session, bulls showed their horns on the trading floor.
The market sentiment remained high due to the successful acquisition of Telenor by Pakistan Telecommunication Company Limited, worth around $400 million. Moreover, shares of Treet Battery Ltd began trading following the bifurcation of the battery division of First Treet Manufacturing Modaraba (FTMM) through a court-sanctioned scheme of arrangement. The executive committee for the Special Investment Facilitation Council (SIFC) on Thursday launched a business and investment-friendly SIFC Visa facility, an important milestone towards creating an enabling environment for foreign investors. All these factors gave a boost to the market sentiment.
According to experts, the stock market is simply “re-rating upwards”. They attributed the upward momentum of the index to relatively improved economic conditions, more balanced current account and cheap valuations of stock, which led to continued foreign interest.
The benchmark index traded in a range of 787.28 points, showing an intraday high of 66,346.76 points and an intraday low of 65,559.48 points. Among other indices, the KSE All Share Index gained 556.71 points (+1.26 percent) to close at 44,049.21 points. Similarly, the KMI All Share Islamic Index gained 401.15 points (+1.25 percent) to close at 32,204.20 points.
Total volumes traded for the KSE-100 Index increased by 576.47 million shares to 984.03 million shares against 407.56 million shares traded in the previous session. The overall market volumes increased by 760.17 million shares to 1,741.36 million shares against 981.19 million shares traded a session earlier.
Among scrips, KEL topped the volumes with 385.38 million shares, followed by WTL (195.49 million) and CNERGY (185.8 million). Stocks that contributed significantly to the volumes included KEL, WTL, CNERGY, BOP and PIBTL, which formed over 54 percent of total volumes.
A total of 386 companies traded shares in the stock exchange against 388 in the previous session, out of which shares of 258 closed up, shares of 112 companies closed down while shares of 16 companies remained unchanged. A total of 95 companies traded shares in the KSE-100 Index against 98 in the previous session, out of which share prices of 65 companies closed up, 28 companies closed down and two remained unchanged.
The number of total trades increased to 315,202 from 265,312 in the previous session, while the value traded increased by Rs6.24 billion to Rs29.98 against Rs23.74 billion in the previous session.
In terms of rupee, SFL remained the top gainer with an increase of Rs115.5 (+6.47 percent) per share, closing at Rs1,900. The runner-up remained LCI, the share price of which climbed up by Rs33.93 (+4.43 percent) to Rs799.01. FASM remained the top loser with a decrease of Rs32.12 (-7.42 percent) per share, closing at Rs401, followed by SRVI, the share price of which fell by Rs23.58 (-3.77 percent) to close at Rs601.14 per share.
The major sectors taking the index towards north remained oil & gas exploration companies (159 points), fertilizer (109 points), commercial banks (81 points), power generation & distribution (61 points), and automobile assembler (56 points). The major companies adding points to the index remained PPL (111 points), KEL (62 points), MTL (46 points), CNERGY (45 points), and BAFL (43 points).
The sectors taking the index towards south were leather & tanneries (17 points), property (3 points), automobile parts & accessories and paper & board (2 points each), and textile composite (1 point). The major companies depriving the index of points remained MEBL (25 points), BAHL (23 points), SRVI (17 points), UBL (14 points), and HUBC (13 points).
