Market watch
Benchmark KSE-100 index advances 679.42 points to settle at 44,434.80
TLTP
KARACHI
The Pakistan Stock Exchange (PSX) on Friday welcomed the New Year with a bull run on the back of extension in amnesty for construction industry and hopes of resolution of debt circular, as the benchmark KSE-100 Index gained 679.42 (+1.55 percent) to close at 44,434.8 points.
The bulls dominated the benchmark KSE-100 index on the first trading session of the year, as the index gained to make an intraday high of 1,119 points. This positivity in the market can be attributed to sources that suggested that IPPs and government have in principle come to an agreement to clear outstanding backlog of circular debt. Resultantly IPPs, E&Ps and Oil and Gas Marketing sector (all part of the energy chain) lead the rally in the market.
Some intraday profit taking was observed during the latter part of the second trading session, as the index finally settled at 44,434.8 level.
A total of 642,622,037 shares were traded during the day compared to the trade of 578,250,758 shares the previous day whereas the price of shares stood at Rs27.303 billion against Rs23.780 billion the previous day.
As many as 406 companies transacted shares in the stock market, 214 of them recorded gain and 178 sustained losses whereas the share price of 14 companies remained unchanged.
The three top traded companies were Power Cement with a volume of 35,837,500 shares and price per share of Rs9.88, Hascol petrol with a volume of 35,483,395 and price per share of Rs14.69 and Pak Refinery with a volume of 33,644,000 and price per share of Rs23.79. The three contributed to total market volume for 104 million shares out of the total market volume of 642 million shares.
Unilever Foods recorded a maximum increase of Rs500 per share, closing at Rs14500 whereas Colgate Palm was runner-up with the increase of Rs80 per share, closing at Rs2980. Nestle Pakistan witnessed a maximum decrease of Rs37.51 per share, closing at Rs6627.50 whereas Bata (PK) shares decreased by Rs21.31 per share closing at Rs1510.53.
Major contributions to the index came from HUBC, OGDC, PPL, PSO and UBL, as they cumulatively contributed 465 points to the index.
Karim Punjani, a research analyst, agreed that these two reasons played a major role in helping the KSE-100 index move up. Punjani, however, said that the rally was powered by the “January effect” too. Stock markets usually perform well during the month of January, according to the analyst.
He said the news of the resolution of circular debt issue not only drove the power sector stocks, but it also pushed oil and gas exploration and marketing companies such as the OGDCL and the PSO. Punjani said that other stocks such as banks also performed well. It was due to the positive sentiment in January, he added.
