Market watch
Benchmark KSE-100 index gains 196.51 points to settle at 46,160.78
TLTP
KARACHI
The Pakistan Stock Exchange (PSX) witnessed a bullish trend on Wednesday owing to fresh flows from investors into energy chain on back of release of funds from the government and the benchmark KSE-100 Index gained 196.51 points (+0.43 percent) to close at 46,160.78 points.
The KSE-100 Index remained green for most of the session and traded in a range of 265.7 points, showing an intraday high of 46,189.2 and a low of 45,923.5.
Among other indices, the KSE All Share Index gained 130.59 points (+0.41 percent) to close at 31,665.08 points. Likewise, the All Share Islamic Index gained 141.63 points (+0.62 percent) to close at 23,029.61 points.
A total of 407 companies traded shares in the stock exchange, out of them shares of 238 closed up, shares of 147 closed down while shares of 22 companies remained unchanged. All share volume increased by 4.51 million to 403.69 million shares, while market capitalisation increased by Rs32.73 billion. Total trades increased by 576 to 148,340, and value traded increased by Rs0.53 billion to Rs23.50 billion.
Among scrips, ANL led the volumes with 32.04 million shares, followed by TRG (27.8 million) and BYCO (27.6 million). Stocks that contributed significantly to the volumes include ANL, TRG, BYCO, PRL and ASL, which formed 32 percent of total volumes.
The sectors propping up the index were cement with 55 points, engineering with 26 points, oil & gas marketing companies with 24 points, power generation & distribution with 20 points and automobile assembler with 17 points. The most points added to the index was by MCB which contributed 23 points followed by INIL with 21 points, DAWH with 16 points, MEBL with 16 points and SNGP with 16 points.
Sector wise, the index was let down by commercial banks with 13 points, pharmaceuticals with 6 points, oil & gas exploration companies with 4 points, automobile parts & accessories with 3 points and technology & communication with 2 points. The most points taken off the index was by HBL which stripped the index of 35 points followed by UBL with 20 points, PPL with 7 points, POL with 7 points and SCBPL with 6 points.
Analysts at Arif Habib Limited said that the market traded in the positive zone for a good part of the session in excitement of the Senate elections. Besides, the energy chain remained a recipient of fresh flows from investors on the back of release of funds from government in conclusion of deals with independent power producers (IPPs).
Other than banks and E&P stocks, the overall market saw price gains especially cement, steel, O&GMCs, refineries and power sectors.
According to the analysts, investors remained confident throughout the trading session, mainly on continuous improvement in industrial data as APCMA reported 2 percent YoY improvement in cements dispatches in February 2021 to 4.8 MTs.
