KARACHI
Pakistan Stock Exchange (PSX) continued with its bullish momentum for the 10th straight session on Friday, with the benchmark KSE-100 Index closing above the 49,000 points for the first time in over six years. The index gained 721.76 points (+1.48 percent) to close at 49,493.47 points.
It was June 9, 2017 when the benchmark index had closed above 49,000 points mark last time. Earlier on August 3, 2023, the benchmark crossed the 49,000 mark during intraday trading but it failed to sustain this level and closed at 48,611.18 points.
This notable surge in buying activity is attributed to the improving rupee’s value against the US dollar and upcoming corporate earnings wherein the market expects decent profits. Overall, the benchmark index has gained 3,320.68 points in the last ten sessions.
The market has been showing strength since the signing of the loan agreement with the International Monetary Fund (IMF) on June 30 last. Moreover, attractive valuations of stocks in terms of price-to-earning-ratio (PE) and buyback of their own companies’ shares by the companies’ owners these days have made the market attractive for investors.
The benchmark index traded in a range of 752.78 points, showing an intraday high of 49,520.37 points and an intraday low of 48,767.59 points. Among other indices, the KSE All Share Index gained 506.48 points (+1.53 percent) to close at 33,049.40 points, while KMI All Share Islamic Index gained 427.36 points (+1.77 percent) to close at 24,167.60 points.
Total volumes traded for the KSE-100 Index increased by 146.53 million to 369.81 million shares against 223.23 million shares traded a session earlier. The overall market volumes increased by 214.1 million shares to 556.39 million shares against 342.29 million shares traded a session earlier.
Among scrips, KEL topped the volumes with 134.87 million shares, followed by PTC (48.39 million) and WTL (33.56 million). Stocks that contributed significantly to the volumes included KEL, PTC, WTL, PPL, and OGDC, which formed around 44 percent of total volumes.
A total of 360 companies traded shares in the stock exchange against 319 a session earlier, out of which shares of 240 closed up, shares of 99 closed down while shares of 21 companies remained unchanged. A total of 95 companies traded shares in the KSE-100 Index against 93 in the previous session, out of which share price of 73 companies closed up, 20 closed down and two remained unchanged.
The number of total trades increased by 34,262 to 179,307 from 145,045 a session earlier, while the value traded increased by Rs3.68 billion to Rs15.42 billion against Rs11.74 billion in the previous session.
In terms of rupee, NESTLE remained the top gainer with an increase of Rs56.89 (+0.8 percent) per share, closing at Rs7,198. The runner-up remained MARI, the share price of which climbed up by Rs33.34 (+2.16 percent) to Rs1,580.06. SFL remained the top loser with a decrease of Rs82.31 (-6.89 percent) per share, closing at Rs1,112.69, followed by BHAT, the share price of which fell by Rs14 (-1.4 percent) to close at Rs986 per share.
The major sectors taking the index towards north remained commercial banks (229 points), oil & gas exploration companies (139 points), cement (71 points), automobile assembler (56 points), and oil & gas marketing companies (41 points). The major companies adding points to the index remained PPL (75 points), MEBL (49 points), MTL (48 points), HBL (35 points), and UBL (33 points).
The sectors taking the index towards south were technology & communication (26 points), refinery (10 points) and tobacco (4 points). The major companies depriving the index of points remained TRG (51 points), EFERT (7 points), NRL (6 points), and FFC and KAPCO (5 points each).
