KARACHI: The Pakistan Stock Exchange (PSX) changed its direction on Wednesday, as indices managed to recover losses from the preceding session. Foreign investors closed Tuesday’s session as net buyers with a net inflow of $4.30 million.
According to Pakistan Bureau of Statistics (PBS), cement exports recorded an increase of 32.81pc during the first three quarters of the current fiscal year. The exports amounted to $221,258 million during July – March 2018-19 as compared to exports of $166,597 million during July – March 2017-18.
The KSE 100 index benchmark recorded its intraday high of 36,733.05 after gathering 329.02 points by midday. It settled higher by 100.22 points at 36,504.25. Accumulating 166.76 points, the KMI 30 index closed at 59,442.03, while the KSE All Share index gained 20.56 points to end at 26,653.46. Out of total traded shares, 126 advanced, 167 declined while the value of 21 remained unchanged.
The overall market volumes declined from 119.61 million in the last session to 115.99 million. Lotte Chemical Pakistan Limited (LOTCHEM +1.98pc) emerged as volume leader with a volume of 9.81 million shares. Next in line were The Bank of Punjab (BOP +0.92pc) and TRG Pakistan Limited (TRG -1.09pc). The scripts had traded 8.76 million shares and 8.16 million shares respectively.
Habib Bank Limited (HBL +0.69pc) declared it’s financials for the first quarter of FY19. An interim cash dividend of Rs1.25 was also announced by the company. Revenue increased by 6.62pc on a quarterly basis, while earnings per share declined from Rs3.12 in the same period last year to Rs2.08 in the current period.
MCB Bank Limited (MCB +0.02pc) also announced its financial performance for the first quarter of FY19. An interim dividend of Rs4 was declared by the company. Revenue improved by 12.25pc QoQ, while earnings per share also increased from Rs4.03 in the same period last year to Rs4.29 in the current period.
Atlas Honda Limited (ATLH +1.99pc) published their accounts for FY19. A final cash dividend of Rs10, along with 20pc bonus shares, was announced by the company. Sales inched up by 6pc YoY, while earnings per share dipped by 31pc YoY (FY18 Rs45.10, FY18 Rs31.03).
