KARACHI
Pakistan Stock Exchange (PSX) closed on a positive note on Friday a few hours before the presentation of the budget for the fiscal year 2023-24, with the benchmark KSE-100 Index gaining 217.74 points (+0.52 percent) to reach 41,904.2 points.
The market opened on a sharp positive note and gained around 240 points during the first hour trading. However, the concerns about the revival of the International Monetary Fund (IMF) loan programme as well as additional taxes likely to be imposed on listed companies, including banks, in the new budget turned the market towards profit-taking. The indices entered the red zone for a short time before the end of the first session. However, the trading floor remained positive for the entire second session as notable buying activity was observed across the board.
The KSE-100 Index moved in a range of 254.68 points, showing an intraday high of 41,931.82 points and a low of 41,677.14 points. Among other indices, the KSE All Share Index gained 129.25 points (+0.46 percent) to close at 28,253.69 points, while KMI All Share Islamic Index gained 117.50 points (+0.57 percent) to close at 20,688.96 points.
The overall market volumes decreased by 38.95 million to 164.84 million shares against 203.79 million shares a session earlier. Total volumes traded for the KSE-100 Index remained 78.78 million against 101.05 million a session earlier, showing a decrease of 22.27 million shares.
Among scrips, TPLP topped the volumes with 19.51 million shares, followed by UNITY (13.97 million) and WTL (13.37 million). Stocks that contributed significantly to the volumes included TPLP, UNITY, WTL, FABL, and HASCOL, which formed around 41 percent of total volumes.
A total of 337 companies traded shares in the stock exchange as compared to 320 a session earlier. Out of traded companies, shares of 186 closed up, shares of 124 closed down while shares of 27 companies remained unchanged. A total of 95 companies traded shares in the KSE-100 Index against 96 companies a session earlier, out of which shares of 52 companies closed up, 35 closed down and eight remained unchanged.
The number of total trades decreased by 18,389 to 87,401 against 105,790 a session earlier, while the value traded decreased by Rs0.57 billion to Rs5.2 billion.
In terms of rupee, COLG remained the top gainer and witnessed an increase of Rs135.12 (7.5 percent) per share, closing at Rs1,936.67. The runner-up remained KHYT, the share price of which climbed up by Rs42.25 (+7.25 percent) to Rs625. UFPL remained the top loser in terms of rupee and witnessed a decrease of Rs1,266.32 (-5.46 percent) per share, closing at Rs21,932.68, followed by AWTX, the share price of which fell by Rs224 (-7.5 percent) to close at Rs2,764 per share.
The sectors taking the index towards north were technology & communication (74 points), chemical (54 points), textile composite (29 points), oil & gas marketing companies (15 points), and oil & gas exploration companies (12 points). The major companies adding points to the index remained COLG (46 points), SYS (42 points), TRG (27 points), OGDC (22 points), and ILP (20 points).
The sectors taking the index towards south were food & personal care products (17 points), miscellaneous (3 points), commercial banks (2 points), and modarabas (1 points). The companies which deprived the index of most of the points included MARI (24 points), HBL (14 points), UPFL (11 points), NESTLE (10 points), and FFC (7 points).
