LAHORE: Investors saw benchmark KSE 100 fall from its 52-week high to a fresh 52-week low today in just a span of six months. Pakistan’s benchmark KSE-100 index ended the volatile session little changed +39 points, 0.1 per cent, after bouncing off a fresh intraday low for 2017 at the 39,463 points level. Activity improved, volumes inched up 2 per cent day on day while value increased 23 per cent.
The index which recorded all-time high of 53,127.24 in late May sunk to 39,462.71 trading on Wednesday.
The country is currently on road to bring out dollar-denominated bonds to boost its fallen foreign exchange reserves. This will be first such move since 2015 forced by a steep decline of 25 per cent in reserves. A 5-year Sukuk bond is also on offer with an initial price of 6 per cent, reported on international media.
Top index point contributors were ENGRO (+4.2 per cent), OGDC (+1.6 per cent), TRG (+4.7 per cent), PMPK (+5 per cent) & KEL (+2.6 per cent) adding 129 points while UBL (-1.8 per cent), HUBC (-1.9 per cent), HBL (-0.8 per cent), POL (-0.9 per cent) & MCB (-0.9 per cent) held back 100 points.
On the sector front; fertilizer contributed 73 points, technology added 18 points, tobacco 15 points, e&ps 10 points, textile 8 points, while banks eroded 50 points, power 23 points, insurance 8 points. TRG had 17.07 million and KEL 11.00 million shares exchanged on the table.
Engro Fertilizer Limited (EFERT -0.02 per cent), volume 4.84 million, Engro Corporation Limited (ENGRO +4.22 per cent), volume 4.82 million, and Habib Bank Limited (HBL -0.80 per cent), volume 2.63 million, made it to the list of top 10 top traded companies.
The benchmark KSE 100 index traded in a narrow band and marked an intraday low of 39,462.71 with a loss of 171.42 points and high of 39,760.50 with a 126.37 point gain. It settled up a minor 38.76 points at 39,672.89.
The KMI 30 index resurrected after a few days of getting hit hard. The index went down 370.15 points and up 362.62 points to conclude the session at 67,818.92 up 192.99 points. The KSE All Share Index gathered 95.04 points with 175 advancers and 139 decliners.
The market volumes inched higher from previous sessions 113.00 million to 114.91 million. TRG Pakistan Limited (TRG +4.68 per cent) and K-Electric Limited (KEL +2.61 per cent) interchanged their positions on the volume chart.
Investor interest continued in ENGRO (+4.2 per cent) with $ 12.3 million worth of shares exchanging hands as Wednesday was the last date of trading before the Rs 7.0 per share dividend is excluded, while after Thursday’s closing the stock will no longer be a part of the MSCI Emerging Markets Index.
