KARACHI
Pakistan Stock Exchange (PSX) extended its recovery for the third straight session on Friday, with the benchmark KSE-100 Index gaining 398.81 points (+0.64 percent) to close at 62,451.04 points.
The market opened on a negative note but turned towards the green territory soon and remained almost in the green territory throughout the both halves of the Friday’s session, albeit it switched in the red for a brief time. The bulls showed their dominance and the stocks regained some of the lost ground amid value-hunting by investors.
According to experts, value hunters were in action leading to across the board buying. Moreover, fresh liquidity is being injected as the market enters a new month, they said. They attributed the bullish momentum to “adequate amount of futures positions being rolled over.”
They said that the market bounced back sharply during the last three sessions after a correction. They noted that market participants are expecting interest rates to decline in 2024, coupled with a broad-based re-rating of the market. “More than 125 stocks are trading 70pc below the May 2017 market cap in dollar terms. There is a significant valuation gap between Pakistan and other markets and that should keep foreign investors active,” they added.
The benchmark index traded in a range of 836.84 points, showing an intraday high of 62,644.38 points and an intraday low of 61,807.54 points. Among other indices, the KSE All Share Index gained 348.26 points (+0.83 percent) to close at 41,916.27 points. Similarly, the KMI All Share Islamic Index gained 338.87 points (+1.11 percent) to close at 30,664.11 points.
Total volumes traded for the KSE-100 Index decreased by 15.90 million shares to 362.72 million shares against 378.62 million traded in the previous session. However, the overall market volumes decreased by 85.65 million shares to 590.59 million shares against 676.24 million shares traded a session earlier.
Among scrips, KEL topped the volumes with 141.79 million shares, followed by FFL (28.47 million) and WTL (27.87 million). Stocks that contributed significantly to the volumes included KEL, FFL, WTL, PAEL, and CNERGY, which formed over 40 percent of total volumes.
A total of 359 companies traded shares in the stock exchange against 377 in the previous session, out of which shares of 207 closed up, shares of 130 companies closed down while shares of 22 companies remained unchanged. A total of 97 companies traded shares in the KSE-100 Index against 98 in the previous session, out of which share prices of 56 companies closed up, 38 companies closed down and three remained unchanged.
The number of total trades decreased to 202,931 from 232,377 in previous session, while the value traded decreased by Rs3.44 billion to Rs16.84 against Rs20.28 billion in the previous session.
In terms of rupee, NESTLE remained the top gainer with an increase of Rs203 (+2.54 percent) per share, closing at Rs8,203. The runner-up remained RMPL, the share price of which climbed up by Rs198 (+2.02 percent) to Rs9,998. UPFL remained the top loser with a decrease of Rs99 (-0.45 percent) per share, closing at Rs21,900, followed by SFL, the share price of which fell by Rs42.58 (-2.51 percent) to close at Rs1,657.05 per share.
The major sectors taking the index towards north remained oil & gas exploration companies (112 points), fertilizer (80 points), cement (69 points), oil & gas marketing companies (33 points), food and personal care products (24 points), cables & electrical goods (22 points), and chemicals (20 points). Ten major companies adding points to the index remained PPL (43 points), UBL (28 points), EFERT and FFC (23 points each), KEL (22 points), OGDC (21 points), PSO, PAEL and NESTLE (12 points each), and AKBL (11 points).
The major sectors taking the index towards south were commercial banks (54 points), technology & communication (16 points), refinery (15 points), engineering (12 points) and insurance (5 points). Ten major companies depriving the index of points remained BAHL (31 points), HUBC (25 points), MCB (15 points), MARI and HBL (11 points each), TRG (10 points), NBP (9 points), MEBL (8 points), BAFL (6 points), and ATRL (4 points).
