KARACHI
The Pakistan Stock Exchange (PSX) extended gains for the third consecutive session on Monday and the benchmark KSE-100 Index gained 134.08 points (+0.29 percent) to close above the 46,000 points for the first time in 15 months, settling at 46,054.81 points.
The market opened on a positive note and hit the day’s high during the first few minutes trading.
However, the market remained volatile and the benchmark index twice fell below the 46,000 points mark amid profit-taking activity.
The market witnessed stability during the last 90 minutes trading when the benchmark index consistently remained above the 46,000 points threshold.
Last time, when the KSE-100 Index closed above the 46,000 points was April 2022.
The benchmark index traded in a range of around 323.03 points showing an intraday high of 46,195.70 points and an intraday low of 45,872.67 points.
Among other indices, the KSE All Share Index gained 116.37 points (+0.38 percent) to close at 30,847.61 points, while KMI All Share Islamic Index gained 76.47 points (+0.34 percent) to close at 22,497.85 points.
Total volumes traded for the KSE-100 Index decreased by 51.73 million shares to 154.05 million shares against 205.78 shares traded a session earlier.
The overall market volumes decreased by 205.47 million shares to 299.08 million shares against 504.55 million shares traded a session earlier.
Among scrips, WTL topped the volumes with 35.88 million shares, followed by KEL (32.40 million) and UNITY (31.48 million). Stocks that contributed significantly to the volumes included WTL, KEL, UNITY, HASCOL, and CNERGY, which formed around 42 percent of total volumes.
A total of 332 companies traded shares in the stock exchange against 338 a session earlier, out of which shares of 146 closed up, shares of 171 closed down while shares of 15 companies remained unchanged.
A total of 92 companies traded shares in the KSE-100 Index against 91 companies a session earlier, out of which share price of 46 companies closed up, 44 closed down and two remained unchanged.
The number of total trades decreased by 30,160 to 124,002 against 154,162 trades in the previous session, while the value traded decreased by Rs3.87 billion to Rs8.14 billion.
In terms of rupee, NESTLE remained the top gainer and witnessed an increase of Rs100 (+1.49 percent) per share, closing at Rs6,800. The runner-up remained BHAT, the share price of which climbed up by Rs69 (+7.5 percent) to Rs989. AABS remained the top loser in terms of rupee and witnessed a decrease of Rs29.4 (-5.76 percent) per share, closing at Rs480.6, followed by SIEM, the share price of which fell by Rs18.19 (-2.53 percent) to close at Rs701.5 per share.
The sectors taking the index towards north were commercial banks (125 points), oil & gas marketing companies (25 points), power generation & distribution (20 points), chemical (18 points), and food & personal care products (17 points). The major companies adding points to the index remained MCB (51 points), UBL (36 points), MEBL (29 points), COLG (19 points), and SHEL (14 points).
The sectors taking the index towards south were cement (22 points), technology & communication (17 points), oil & gas exploration companies (12 points), investment banks/ investment companies/ securities companies (11 points), and textile composite (8 points). The major companies depriving the index of points remained DAWH (13 points), HMB (11 points), CHCC (9 points), SYS (8 points), and POL (7 points).
