KARACHI: Bullish sentiments prevailed at the Pakistan Stock Exchange (PSX) on Thursday as indices rallied right from the beginning while volumes improved considerably from the preceding session.
Foreign investors ended as net sellers for the fourth consecutive session on Wednesday with a net outflow of $0.302 million.
On the political front, the Supreme Court of Pakistan, in its short order, announced that General Qamar Javed Bajwa will remain the Chief of Army Staff (COAS) for another six months, during which the parliament will legislate on the extension/reappointment of an army chief.
Meanwhile, the State Bank of Pakistan (SBP) has enhanced payment limit against freelance services from $1,500 per individual per month to $5,000 per individual per month. The development aims to broaden the scope of business-to-customer transactions through home remittance channel.
Adding 724.47 points, the benchmark KSE-100 Index marked its intraday high at 38,847.19. The index settled higher by 583.55 points at 38,706.27. The KMI-30 Index gained 919.99 points to end at 62,281.56, while the KSE All Share Index managed to collect 376.43 points, closing day at 27,439.12.
The overall trading volumes increased from 228.42 million in the previous session to 348.53 million (+53pc). Unity Foods Limited (UNITY +3.31pc), Pak Elektron Limited (PAEL +4.92pc) and TRG Pakistan Limited (TRG +1.66pc) topped the volume chart. The scripts had exchanged 20.42 million, 19.77 million and 15.78 million shares, respectively.
Sectors that added positivity to the benchmark KSE-100 Index included banking (+91.37 points), power generation and distribution (+75.5 points) and cement (+58.73 points). Among the companies, Hub Power Company Limited (HUBC +67.79 points), Pakistan State Oil Company Limited (PSO +31.32 points) and MCB Bank Limited (MCB +29.91 points) remained the top positive contributors to the index.
The oil and gas marketing sector gained +2.52pc in its cumulative market capitalization. Hascol Petroleum Limited (HASCOL +4.99pc), Pakistan State Oil Company Limited (PSO +3.80pc) and Shell Pakistan Limited (SHEL +1.27pc) closed with decent gains.
In a notification to the exchange, the Board of Directors of Akzo Nobel Pakistan Limited (AKZO +5.00pc) announced that the company has decided to apply for voluntary delisting of the company from PSX. Majority shareholder, ICI Omricron BV, has been authorized to buy back ordinary shares of the company at a price yet to be determined.
