KARACHI : The Pakistan Stock Exchange (PSX) remained bullish on Monday amid positive developments on the economic front and the benchmark KSE-100 Index gained 182.13 points (+0.4 percent) to close the session at 46,097.11 points.
The KSE-100 Index remained positive throughout the session touching an intraday high of 46,314.8 points. Among other indices, the KSE All Share Index gained 130.77 points (+0.42 percent) to close at 31,199.37 points, while All Share Islamic Index gained 139.42 points (+0.62 percent) to close at 22,531.23 points.
A total of 408 companies traded shares in the stock exchange, out of them shares of 242 closed up, shares of 149 closed down while shares of 17 companies remained unchanged.
The overall market volumes increased by 56.21 million to 766.64 million shares, while market capitalisation increased by Rs37.25 billion. The number of total trades increased by 7,976 to 177,018, and value traded increased by Rs0.28 billion to Rs19.93.
Among scrips, WTL topped the volumes with 275.89 million shares, followed by SILK (36.61 million) and SMBL (36.49 million). Stocks that contributed significantly to the volumes include WTL, SILK, SMBL, HASCOL and FFL, which formed 51.36 percent of total volumes.
The sectors propping up the index were cement with 87 points, commercial banks with 42 points, automobile assembler with 36 points, fertilizer with 26 points and chemical with 22 points. The most points added to the index were by SYS which contributed 24 points followed by MTL with 23 points, PPL with 21 points, MLCF with 21 points and COLG with 20 points.
Sector wise, the index was let down by technology & communication with 22 points, power generation & distribution with 16 points, oil & gas marketing companies with 14 points, investment banks/ investment companies/ securities companies with 9 points and tobacco with 6 points. The most points taken off the index were by TRG which stripped the index of 43 points followed by HUBC with 12 points, PSO with 12 points, MARI with 8 points and SEARL with 7 points.
According to a closing note by Arif Habib Limited, the benchmark KSE-100 Index gained almost 400 points earlier in the session, taking cues from the surprise gross domestic product (GDP) growth rate projected by the National Account Committee (NAC) before levelling off some gains to settle the day at 46,097.11 level with the gain of 182.13 points.
The bullish momentum was also supported by domestic news flow that suggested the government may be formulating a populist budget proposal to keep the personal income taxes and power tariffs unchanged, the report said. Furthermore, market expectations on the upcoming monetary policy meeting scheduled for 28th of May also added to elevated volumes during the day, it added. Although the roll-over week began, unlike past months activity remained low in tech stocks and in the end TRG closed below LDCP, it further said. TLTP
