Market watch
Benchmark KSE-100 index rises 290.82 points to settle at 44,886.89
KARACHI
The Pakistan Stock Exchange (PSX) started the new year trading on a positive note, with the benchmark KSE-100 Index remaining positive for the fifth straight session and gaining 290.82 points (+0.65 percent) to close at 44,886.89 points on Monday.
The market opened on a positive note but took a dip soon and remained in the negative territory for the next half an hour. However, later the market remained positive throughout the session. The volumes remained low during the session.
The KSE-100 Index moved in a range of 395.78 points, showing an intraday high of 44,905.35 points and a low of 44,509.57 points. Among other indices, the KSE All Share Index gained 62.74 points (+0.2 percent) to close at 30,789.26 points, while KMI All Share Islamic Index gained 103.92 points (+0.47 percent) to close at 22,130.64 points.
A total of 375 companies traded shares in the stock exchange, out of them shares of 217 closed up, shares of 143 closed down while shares of 15 companies remained unchanged. Out of 91 traded companies in the KSE-100 Index, 58 closed up, 31 closed down and two remained unchanged.
The overall market volumes decreased by 122.48 million to 195.17 million shares. Total volumes traded for the KSE-100 Index increased by 60.93 million to 92.83 million shares. The number of total trades decreased by 21,435 to 93,487, while the value traded decreased by Rs4.31 billion to Rs6.52 billion. Overall market capitalisation increased by Rs15.69 billion.
Among scrips, PIBTL topped the volumes with 12.58 million shares, followed by TPLP (11.09 million) and GGL (10.81 million). Stocks that contributed significantly to the volumes included PIBTL, TPLP, GGL, FNEL, and CNERGY, which formed over 28 percent of total volumes.
The major sectors taking the index towards north were fertilizer with 58 points, cement with 54 points, technology & communication with 50 points, engineering with 39 points and commercial banks with 33 points. The most points added to the index were by SYS which contributed 33 points followed by ENGRO with 30 points, LUCK with 27 points, COLG with 22 points and ISL with 18 points.
The major sectors taking the index toward south were tobacco with 23 points, power generation & distribution with 7 points, food & personal care products with 6 points, refinery with 6 points and textile spinning with 2 points. The most points taken off the index were by PAKT which stripped the index of 23 points followed by KEL with 8 points, CNERGY with 6 points, MUREB with 5 points and PSMC with 4 points.
According to a market closing note by Aba Ali Habib Securities, the market witnessed a bullish rally as institutional investors took positions on attractive valuations which primarily boosted the investors’ confidence. Moreover, a 17 percent decrease in the country’s trade deficit on a month-on-month basis, which fell to $4.41 billion, also strengthened the market sentiments.
However, the experts warned that gas suspension is affecting the textile sector, which is facing 8-hour gas suspension a day in Karachi.
