KARACHI
\nPakistan Stock Exchange (PSX) witnessed a volatile session on Thursday, with the benchmark KSE-100 index gaining 29.28 points (+0.05 percent) to close at 60,531.27 points.
\nThe market opened on a positive note and neared the 61,000 points level but turned to profit-taking soon. The bulls tried to recover and challenge the 61,000 level again later in the session, but the selling pressure brought down the indices to erode most of the gains of the day.
\nThe recent rally in the stock market is fueled by the staff-level agreement between Pakistan and the International Monetary Fund (IMF) on the first review of the $3 billion Stand-By Arrangement (SBA), which is expected to be approved by the IMF board in December. The agreement would also unlock funds from other multilateral and bilateral partners. The market\u2019s rally has also been fueled by the return of foreign investors\u2019 confidence, with overseas traders injecting the highest in Pakistani stocks in four years, worth over $28 million in November.
\nAnalysts said that low valuations, foreign buying, economic stability, currency stability and declining interest rates were also supporting factors for the bullish sentiment. The PSX has been one of the best performing markets in the world this year, posting a growth of over 50 percent. However, some experts have cautioned that the market may face some challenges in the coming months due to political uncertainty, rising inflation, fiscal pressures and external vulnerabilities. They advised investors to adopt a cautious approach and focus on quality stocks with strong fundamentals.
\nThe benchmark index traded in a range of 553.54 points, showing an intraday high of 60,981.67 points and an intraday low of 60,428.13 points. Among other indices, the KSE All Share Index gained 52.02 points (+0.13 percent) to close at 40,324.27 points. Similarly, the KMI All Share Islamic Index gained 122.18 points (+0.41 percent) to close at 29,446.22 points.
\nTotal volumes traded for the KSE-100 Index decreased by 110.62 million to 232.90 million shares against 343.52 million shares a session earlier. The overall market volumes decreased by 225.06 million shares to 467.16 million shares against 692.22 million shares traded a session earlier.
\nAmong scrips, FFL topped the volumes with 34.55 million shares, followed by FFBL (33.03 million) and WTL (28.1 million). Stocks that contributed significantly to the volumes included FFL, FFBL, WTL, FCCL, and DCL, which formed over 28 percent of total volumes.
\nA total of 377 companies traded shares in the stock exchange against 384 companies a session earlier, out of which shares of 147 closed up, shares of 211 companies closed down while shares of 19 companies remained unchanged. A total of 98 companies traded shares in the KSE-100 Index against 100 a session earlier, out of which share prices of 41 companies closed up, 55 companies closed down and two remained unchanged.
\nThe number of total trades decreased to 199,298 from 281,820 a session earlier, while the value traded decreased by Rs8.29 billion to Rs18.75 billion against Rs27.04 billion in the previous session.
\nIn terms of rupee, UPFL remained the top gainer with an increase of Rs400 (+1.81 percent) per share, closing at Rs22,500. The runner-up remained ISIL, the share price of which climbed up by Rs86.78 (+7.5 percent) to Rs1,243.78. RMPL remained the top loser with a decrease of Rs191.5 (-1.86 percent) per share, closing at Rs10,100, followed by MARI, the share price of which fell by Rs42.32 (-2.42 percent) to close at Rs1,707.73 per share.
\nThe major sectors taking the index towards north remained automobile assembler (120 points), cement (111 points), power generation & distribution (79 points), textile composite (9 points), and chemical (8 points). The major companies adding points to the index remained MTL (107 points), LUCK (87 points), HUBC (76 points), FFBL (23 points), and SYS (18 points).
\nThe sectors taking the index towards south were commercial banks (187 points), oil & gas exploration companies (31 points), oil & gas marketing companies (22 points), technology & communication (20 points), and fertilizer (9 points). The major companies depriving the index of points remained MCB (77 points), ENGRO (56 points), UBL (48 points), TRG (39 points), and MARI (34 points).<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
KARACHI Pakistan Stock Exchange (PSX) witnessed a volatile session on Thursday, with the benchmark KSE-100 index gaining 29.28 points (+0.05 percent) to close at 60,531.27 points. The market opened on a positive note and neared the 61,000 points level but turned to profit-taking soon. The bulls tried to recover and challenge the 61,000 level again […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":254263,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[205],"class_list":{"0":"post-371478","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-business","8":"tag-psx"},"yoast_head":"\n