KARACHI
Pakistan Stock Exchange (PSX) remained volatile on Tuesday after a bullish session a day earlier, with the benchmark KSE-100 Index gaining 15.58 points (+0.04 percent) to close at 41,452.68 points.
The market opened on a negative note and remained in the red for over two hours, before bulls stepped in to continue consolidating previous day’s gains. The investors’ sentiment was impacted by Monday’s emergency meeting decision of the Monetary Policy Committee (MPC) to raise the policy rate by 100 basis points to 22 percent.
Moreover, investors were eagerly awaiting the outcome of Pakistan’s ninth review under the 2019 Extended Fund Facility (EFF), which aims to secure a $1.2 billion tranche release from the IMF by June 30. The delay in announcement gave birth to market gossip that brought the market under pressure.
However, Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif’s statement after he spoke with the chief of the global lender over the phone gave a hope to the market and the indices managed to close in the green. Pakistan hopes a bailout decision from the International Monetary Fund will come in a day or two, the prime minister said on Tuesday in his statement.
The benchmark index traded in a range of 398.06 points showing an intraday high of 41,606.25 points and an intraday low of 41,208.19 points. Among other indices, the KSE All Share Index gained 145.06 points (+0.52 percent) to close at 28,111.03 points, while KMI All Share Islamic Index gained 28.7 points (+0.14 percent) to close at 20,449.98 points.
Total volumes traded for the KSE-100 Index increased to 138.02 million against 122.32 million a session earlier, showing an increase of 15.80 million shares. The overall market volumes increased by 13.36 million to 234.75 million shares against 221.39 million shares a session earlier.
Among scrips, BIBP topped the volumes with 17.43 million shares, followed by WTL (11.68 million) and OGDC (10.93 million). Stocks that contributed significantly to the volumes included BIPL, WTL, OGDC, PIBTL, and KEL, which formed around 26 percent of total volumes.
A total of 305 companies traded shares in the stock exchange as compared to 324 a session earlier. Out of traded companies, shares of 136 closed up, shares of 154 closed down while shares of 15 companies remained unchanged. A total of 93 companies traded shares in the KSE-100 Index against 94 companies a session earlier, out of which shares of 49 companies closed up, 42 closed down and two remained unchanged.
The number of total trades decreased by 5,245 to 102,794 against 108,039 a session earlier, while the value traded increased by Rs0.44 billion to Rs7.48 billion.
In terms of rupee, RMPL remained the top gainer and witnessed an increase of Rs50 (+0.6 percent) per share, closing at Rs8,400. The runner-up remained MEHT, the share price of which climbed up by Rs36.25 (+5.91 percent) to Rs650. BHAT remained the top loser in terms of rupee and witnessed a decrease of Rs51.67 (-5.17 percent) per share, closing at Rs948.33, followed by MARI, the share price of which fell by Rs20.41 (-1.33 percent) to close at Rs1,514.64 per share.
The sectors taking the index towards north were commercial banks (120 points), power generation & distribution and tobacco (10 points each), engineering (9 points), and investment banks/ investment companies/ securities companies (6 points). The major companies adding points to the index remained HBL (68 points), BAHL (27 points), PSO (15 points), OGDC (13 points), and BAFL (12 points).
The sectors taking the index towards south were fertilizer (61 points), cement (34 points), technology & communication (22 points), oil & gas exploration companies (22 points), and glass & ceramics (6 points). The major companies depriving the index of points remained ENGRO (31 points), POL (27 points), SYS and EFERT (24 points each), and FFC (19 points).
