KARACHI
Pakistan Stock Exchange (PSX) consolidated gains for the fourth consecutive day following clarity on political front, with the benchmark KSE-100 Index gaining 287.82 points (+0.69 percent) to close at 42,006.25 points on Tuesday.
The market opened on a positive note and remained in the green for the whole session. The end of sit-in by ruling parties in front of the Supreme Court building a day earlier, improved the situation on political front and instilled confidence among investors. The market witnessed significant improvement in volumes as compared to previous days.
The KSE-100 Index moved in a range of 264.56 points, showing an intraday high of 42,081.57 and a low of 41,817.01. Among other indices, the KSE All Share Index gained 155.72 points (+0.56 percent) to close at 27,637.36 points, while KMI All Share Islamic Index gained 112.45 points (+0.57 percent) to close at 19,889.17 points.
The overall market volumes increased by 87.07 million to 196.24 million shares against 109.17 million shares a session earlier. Total volumes traded for the KSE-100 Index remained 101.39 million against 49.99 million a session earlier, showing an increase of 51.4 million shares.
A total of 317 companies traded shares in the stock exchange as compared to 306 a session earlier. Out of traded companies, shares of 176 closed up, shares of 115 closed down while shares of 26 companies remained unchanged. A total of 93 companies traded shares in the KSE-100 Index against 91 a session earlier, out of which shares of 51 companies closed up, 37 closed down and five remained unchanged. The number of total trades increased by 14,468 to 78,772 against 64,304 a session earlier, while the value traded increased by Rs2.28 billion to Rs5.77 billion.
Among scrips, PTC topped the volumes with 15.6 million shares, followed by WTL (14.05 million) and HUMNL (12.68 million). Stocks that contributed significantly to the volumes included PTC, WTL, HUMNL, PPL and LOTCHEM, which formed around 30 percent of total volumes.
In terms of rupee, BHAT remained the top gainer and witnessed an increase of Rs73.58 (+7.5 percent) per share, closing at Rs1,054.58. The runner-up remained PSEL, the share price of which climbed up by Rs50 (+6.76 percent) to Rs790. UPFL remained the top loser in terms of rupee and witnessed a decrease of Rs200 (-0.95 percent) per share, closing at Rs20,200, followed by PRET, the share price of which fell by Rs38.98 (-7.5 percent) to close at Rs480.78 per share.
The sectors taking the index towards north were exploration and production companies (109 points), commercial banks (64 points), fertilizer (44 points), miscellaneous (26 points) and the paper & board (12 points.
