KARACHI
Pakistan Stock Exchange (PSX) extended gains for the third session in a row amid optimism over the upcoming budget for the next fiscal year as well as IMF loan revival, with the benchmark KSE-100 Index gaining 255.52 points (0.61 percent) to close at 41,923.46 points on Tuesday.
The market opened on a sharp positive note and remained in the green throughout the session, as investors’ sentiment remained high due to Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif’s statement that the country will be able to finalise a critical loan deal with the International Monetary Fund (IMF) this month. Moreover, Finance Minister Ishaq Dar assured the investors recently that the upcoming budget 2023-24 will be an investment-friendly budget.
The market breached the 42,000 points level during the first 90 minutes’ trade, which turned it towards profit-taking and the market eroded most of the gains of the day. However, bulls returned during the last-hour trading, taking the index up by another 100 points before the close.
The KSE-100 Index moved in a range of 275.74 points, showing an intraday high of 42,026.94 points and a low of 41,751.20 points. Among other indices, the KSE All Share Index gained 163.92 points (+0.58 percent) to close at 28,101.38 points, while KMI All Share Islamic Index gained 146.59 points (+0.72 percent) to close at 20,425.78 points.
The overall market volumes increased by 95.65 million to 240.83 million shares against 145.18 million shares a session earlier. Total volumes traded for the KSE-100 Index remained 122.49 million against 81.53 million a session earlier, showing an increase of 40.96 million shares.
Among scrips, WTL topped the volumes with 24.43 million shares, followed by PRL (20.52 million) and CNERGY (15.52 million). Stocks that contributed significantly to the volumes included WTL, PRL, CNERGY, PPL, and PAEL, which formed over 33 percent of total volumes.
A total of 330 companies traded shares in the stock exchange as compared to 320 a session earlier. Out of traded companies, shares of 198 closed up, shares of 113 closed down while shares of 19 companies remained unchanged.
A total of 93 companies traded shares in the KSE-100 Index against the same number of companies a session earlier, out of which shares of 59 companies closed up, 29 closed down and five remained unchanged.
The number of total trades increased by 37,223 to 118,063 against 80,840 a session earlier, while the value traded increased by Rs2.42 billion to Rs7.14billion.
In terms of rupee, UPFL remained the top gainer and witnessed an increase of Rs950 (4.31 percent) per share, closing at Rs23,000. The runner-up remained BATA, the share price of which climbed up by Rs33.5 (+2.05 percent) to Rs1,664. SFL remained the top loser in terms of rupee and witnessed a decrease of Rs34.97 (-2.78 percent) per share, closing at Rs1,225.01, followed by ZIL, the share price of which fell by Rs22 (-6.49 percent) to close at Rs317 per share.
The sectors taking the index towards north were fertilizer (65 points), 0il & gas marketing companies (44 points), refinery (26 points), chemical (22 points), and cement (17 points). The major companies adding points to the index remained ENGRO (41 points), PSO (37 points), BAHL (24 points), TRG (20 points), and EFERT (12 points).
The sectors taking the index towards south were automobile assembler (4 points) and power generation & distribution (3 points). The companies which deprived the index of most of the points included HUBC (13 points), SYS (11 points), MCB (10 points), HBL (7 points), and SNGP (6 points).
