KARACHI
Pakistan Stock Exchange (PSX) welcomed the State Bank of Pakistan’s (SBP) decision to keep the interest rate unchanged, with the benchmark KSE-100 Index gaining 612.09 points (+0.94 percent) to close at 65,502.59 points on Tuesday.
The market opened on a positive note and remained in the green for the entire session. The SBP’s decision to keep the interest rate unchanged gave clarity to the market, as the government is also engaged in talks with the International Monetary Fund (IMF) for the last review of the $3 billion stand-by arrangement (SBA).
The experts attributed the bullish trend to the expected decision by the central bank to maintain the status quo. The Monetary Policy Committee (MPC) of the SBP on Monday kept the key policy rate unchanged at 22 percent, its sixth successive decision to maintain the status quo.
The benchmark index traded in a range of 684.55 points, showing an intraday high of 65,624.72 points and an intraday low of 64,940.17 points. Among other indices, the KSE All Share Index gained 367.21 points (+0.84 percent) to close at 43,528.88 points. Similarly, the KMI All Share Islamic Index gained 72.33 points (+0.23 percent) to close at 31,163.03 points.
Total volumes traded for the KSE-100 Index increased to 162.24 million shares from 91.77 million a session earlier, while the overall market volumes increased to 323.28 million shares from 211.76 million shares a session earlier. Among scrips, WTL topped the volumes with 27.82 million shares, followed by TELE (20.83 million) and BOP (17.91 million). Stocks that contributed significantly to the volumes included WTL, TELE, BOP, HASCOL, and UNITY, which formed over 30 percent of total volumes.
A total of 340 companies traded shares in the stock exchange against 325 a session earlier, out of which shares of 183 closed up, shares of 140 companies closed down while shares of 17 companies remained unchanged. A total of 95 companies traded shares in the KSE-100 Index against 93 a session earlier, out of which share prices of 55 companies closed up and 40 companies closed down.
The number of total trades increased to 141,924 from 113,172 on a day-on-day (DoD) basis, while the value traded increased to Rs17.06 billion from Rs7.79 billion a session earlier.
In terms of rupee, UPFL remained the top gainer with an increase of Rs200 (+0.93 percent) per share, closing at Rs21,700. The runner-up remained PAKT, the share price of which climbed up by Rs67.2 (+6.77 percent) to Rs1,059.2. SFL remained the top loser with a decrease of Rs91.67 (-6.08 percent) per share, closing at Rs1,415, followed by NESTLE, the share price of which fell by Rs80 (-1.07 percent) to close at Rs7,420 per share.
The major sectors taking the index towards north remained commercial banks (274 points), fertilizer (99 points), investment banks/ investment companies/ securities companies (97 points), oil & gas exploration companies (63 points), automobile assemblers (32 points), tobacco (28 points), oil & gas marketing companies (25 points), technology and communication (24 points), food & personal care products (20 points), and chemicals (19 points).
Major companies adding points to the index remained DAWH (56 points), MCB (42 points), MEBL (39 points), MARI, HMB and BAHL (22 points each), FFC (20 points), and PAKT, EFERT and BAFL (15 points each).
The major sectors taking the index towards south remained cement (32 points), synthetic and rayon (13 points), power generation and distribution companies (13 points), and refinery (5 points).
Major companies depriving the index of points remained IBFL and MLCF (7 points each), SYS (6 points), DGKC (6 points), FCCL and PKGS (5 points each), and FML, HBL and AKBL (4 points each).
