KARACHI
Pakistan Stock Exchange (PSX) witnessed another lacklustre and low-volume session on Wednesday, with the benchmark KSE-100 Index gaining 18.02 points (+0.04 percent) to close at 41,117.32 points.
The market opened on a positive note and hit the day-high during the first one hour trade. However, the indices came down consistently during the next four hours of trade, hitting the day-low and entering into reds. Still, the last one-hour trade recouped all the losses of the day and managed to close the day in green.
The KSE-100 Index moved in a range of 277.83 points, showing an intraday high of 41,342.23 and a low of 41,064.40. Among other indices, the KSE All Share Index gained 121.93 points (+0.44 percent) to close at 27,485.22 points, while KMI All Share Islamic Index gained 80.84 points (+0.41 percent) to close at 19,860.73 points.
The overall market volumes increased by 14.08 million to 105.57 million shares against 91.49 million shares a session earlier. Total volumes traded for the KSE-100 Index remained 40.32 million against 43.77 million a session earlier, showing a decrease of 3.45 million shares.
Among scrips, HASCOL topped the volumes with 21.5 million shares, followed by WTL (6.2 million) and HBLTETF (5.01 million). Stocks that contributed significantly to the volumes included HASCOL, WTL, HBLTETF, FFL, and CNERGY, which formed over 35 percent of total volumes.
A total of 309 companies traded shares in the stock exchange as compared to 300 a session earlier.
Out of traded companies, shares of 135 closed up, shares of 148 closed down while shares of 26 companies remained unchanged. A total of 95 companies traded shares in the KSE-100 Index against 93 a session earlier, out of which shares of 43 companies closed up, 47 closed down and five remained unchanged.
The number of total trades increased by 6,876 to 58,750 against 51,874 a session earlier, while the value traded increased by Rs0.2 billion to Rs2.58 billion.
In terms of rupee, NESTLE remained the top gainer and witnessed an increase of Rs200 (+3.08 percent) per share, closing at Rs6,700. The runner-up remained AABS, the share price of which climbed up by Rs30.38 (+7.5 percent) to Rs435.38. RCML remained the top loser in terms of rupee and witnessed a decrease of Rs43.35 (-7.5 percent) per share, closing at Rs534.82, followed by PRET, the share price of which fell by Rs38.54 (-7.5 percent) to close at Rs475.36 per share.
Economic woes including persistent delays in the revival of the International Monetary Fund (IMF) loan programme, a continuous drop in foreign exchange reserves, increasing chances of default on foreign debt repayment, and political instability in the country have been keeping the investors at bay. The overall traded volumes have been reduced to a quarter of those traded in normal days.
Meanwhile, Pakistan Refinery Limited (PRL) and Oil & Gas Development Company Limited (OGDC) signed a memorandum of understanding on Wednesday to establish a strategic collaboration in the energy sector. One of the main goals of the MoU is to explore equity investment opportunities in PRL by OGDCL. This would enable PRL to upgrade and expand its refinery operations.
Pakistan Oilfields Limited (POL) informed the bourse that it has shut down two well sites of TAL Block, following a terrorist attack. POL said that all the plants and field installations remained safe. The attack resulted in a production loss of about four million standard cubic feet per day (MMscfd) of gas and 24 barrels per day of oil.
