KARACHI: Pakistan Stock Exchange (PSX) extended gains for the second session in a row on Thursday, with the benchmark KSE-100 Index gaining 355.19 points (+0.58 percent) to close at 61,914.34 points. The market remained volatile in the first hour’s trading; however, later it continued its positive momentum achieved in the previous session. On the political front, arrangements in power circles have paved the way for Shahbaz Sharif, president of Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz, to potentially secure a second term as prime minister, with the support of coalition partners. Concurrently, Asif Ali Zardari of the Pakistan Peoples Party is poised to be the coalition’s nominee for the presidency. TLTP
Investors are still anticipating a post-election rally at the PSX, however, market analysts previously recommended that investors should capitalise on the last week’s dips to achieve better gains in the future.
The benchmark index traded in a range of 491.65 points, showing an intraday high of 61,952.09 points and an intraday low of 61,460.44 points. Among other indices, the KSE All Share Index gained 101.39 points (+0.24 percent) to close at 41,491.87 points. Similarly, the KMI All Share Islamic Index gained 130.66 points (+0.44 percent) to close at 29,955.09 points.
Total volumes traded for the KSE-100 Index decreased by 38.8 million to 171.78 million from 210.58 million shares a session earlier. Similarly, the overall market volumes decreased by 37.94 million to 324.83 million from 362.77 million shares a session earlier.
Among scrips, PAEL topped the volumes with 23.11 million shares, followed by CNERGY (21.25 million) and PIBTL (16.26 million). Stocks that contributed significantly to the volumes included PAEL, CNERGY, PIBTL, KEL, and TRG, which formed over 27 percent of total volumes.
A total of 352 companies traded shares in the stock exchange against 345 a session earlier, out of which shares of 185 closed up, shares of 143 companies closed down while shares of 24 companies remained unchanged. A total of 93 companies traded shares in the KSE-100 Index against 92 a session earlier, out of which share prices of 50 companies closed up, 41 companies closed down and two remained unchanged.
The number of total trades decreased to 162,697 from 165,841 a session earlier, while the value traded increased to Rs13.97 billion from Rs12.49 billion a session earlier.
In terms of rupee, SRVI remained the top gainer with an increase of Rs29.56 (+4.71 percent) per share, closing at Rs657. The runner-up remained SYS, the share price of which climbed up by Rs23.03 (+5.95 percent) to Rs410.4. INDU remained the top loser with a decrease of Rs82.07 (-5.3 percent) per share, closing at Rs1,466.01, followed by RCML, the share price of which fell by Rs43.12 (-7.5 percent) to close at Rs531.88 per share.
The major sectors taking the index towards north remained technology and communication (202 points), commercial banks (119 points), fertilizer (77 points), oil & gas marketing companies (27 points), textile composite (24 points), leather and tanneries (22 points), and transport (24 points).
Major companies adding points to the index remained SYS (72 points), MEBL (51 points), TRG (34 points), EFERT (31 points), UBL (25 points), PSO (13 points), SRVI and HBL (12 points each), MTL (11 points) and ILP (10 points).
The major sectors taking the index towards south remained pharmaceutical (46 points), cement (31 points), oil & gas exploration companies (19 points), automobile assemblers (14 points), tobacco (5 points) and chemicals (4 points).
Major companies depriving the index of points remained INDU (18 points), LUCK (14 points), PPL (12 points), HINOON (9 points), MEHT and NBP (8 points each), BAHL, BAFL and OGDC (6 points each), and GLAXO (5 points).
