KARACHI
The Pakistan Stock Exchange (PSX) remained positive on Thursday amid improved volumes, with the benchmark KSE-100 Index gaining 91.93 points (+0.21 percent) to close at 44,266.90 points.
The market opened on a positive note, took a dip of around 66 points on the next moment and then remained positive throughout the session. The results of Pakistan Investment Bonds’ (PIBs) auction gave a boost to the investors’ confidence, as a near-term increase in interest rate now seems out of question.
The KSE-100 Index moved in a range of 338.3 points, showing an intraday high of 44,446.9 points and a low of 44,108.6 points. Among other indices, the KSE All Share Index gained 29.22 points (+0.1 percent) to close at 30,296.57 points, while KMI All Share Islamic Index shed 12.88 points (-0.06 percent) to close at 21,844.57 points.
A total of 365 companies traded shares in the stock exchange, out of them shares of 198 closed up, shares of 144 closed down while shares of 23 companies remained unchanged. Out of 96 traded companies in the KSE-100 Index, 53 closed up, 38 closed down and five remained unchanged.
The overall market volumes increased by 88.64 million to 240.43 million shares. Total volumes traded for the KSE-100 Index increased by 17.03 million to 85.05 million shares. The number of total trades increased by 19,518 to 99,816, while the value traded increased by Rs1.47 billion to Rs8.02 billion. Overall market capitalisation increased by Rs7.34 billion.
Among scrips, HUMNL topped the volumes with 48.72 million shares, followed by TRG (19.93 million) and UNITY (17.71 million). Stocks that contributed significantly to the volumes included HUMNL, TRG, UNITY, SMBL, and WTL, which formed around 47 percent of total volumes.
The major sectors taking the index toward north were technology & communication with 69 points, investment banks/ investment companies/ securities companies with 12 points, cement with 12 points, power generation & distribution with 5 points and food & personal care products with 5 points.
The most points added to the index were by TRG which contributed 77 points followed by UBL with 13 points, DAWH with 7 points, HMB with 7 points and UNITY with 6 points.
The major sectors taking the index toward south were commercial banks with 14 points, chemical with 5 points, fertilizer with 4 points, paper & board with 3 points and automobile assembler with 3 points. The most points taken off the index were by SYS which stripped the index of 13 points followed by HBL with 12 points, MCB with 10 points, FFC with 7 points and MEBL with 7 points.
According to Aba Ali Habib Securities, “Strong participation in the PIB auction on Wednesday, along with the recent 63-day OMO injection of PKR 1.7 trillion indicates a pause in monetary policy tightening measures in the near term, consequently boosting investors’ confidence.” However, uncertainty regarding the mini-budget was carried forward from Wednesday, restricting much positive movement in the benchmark index, it added.
According to experts, the signing of loans and grant agreements amounting to $1.543 billion with the Asian Development Bank (ADB) on Wednesday, and between the government and the World Bank for $195 million for Discos’ reforms is a positive sign for the investors as the aim of these agreements are said to improve energy, transport, irrigation, and urban sectors. They said that recovery in the global oil prices also contributed to support the stocks of PPL and OGDC.
