KARACHI: The Pakistan Stock Exchange (PSX) turned around its fortunes on Wednesday as the indices recovered losses made in the previous session and closed in the green.
Foreign investors also gave up on the selling trend and closed Tuesday’s session as net buyers, with a net inflow of $0.671 million.
On the economic front, foreign direct investment in the country has surged by 65.7pc to $1.56 billion in the first seven months of the current fiscal year, as compared to $943.6 million received during the same period of last year. On a month-on-month basis, FDI increased 52pc to $223.1 million in January 2020 as compared to $146.8 million in Jan 2019.
Gaining 468.71 points, the benchmark KSE-100 Index recorded its intraday high at 40,644.06. It settled higher by 399.17 points at 40,574.52. The KMI-30 Index appreciated by 836.23 points to end at 64,416.18, while the KSE All Share index accumulated 256.75 points, closing at 28,063.85. Out of the total traded scripts, 198 advanced and 91 declined.
Sectors that brought positivity to the KSE-100 Index included oil & gas exploration (+75.53 points), banking (+66.01 points) and cement (+54.89 points). Among the companies, Oil and Gas Development Company Limited (OGDC +52.07 points), United Bank Limited (UBL +32.56 points) and Hub Power Company Limited (HUBC +23.83 points) remained the top positive contributors.
The overall market volumes improved from 91.64 million in the previous session to 142.96 million. Shares worth Rs6.50 billion were traded on Wednesday. Unity Foods Limited (UNITY +5.25pc), Hascol Petroleum Limited (HASCOL +3.82pc) and D G Khan Cement Company Limited (DGKC +4.42pc) topped the volume chart, exchanging 21.64 million, 10.08 million and 9.51 million shares, respectively.
On the market front, Indus Motor Company Limited (INDU -1.55pc) declared a 46.9pc decline in its revenue for the second quarter of FY20. The company’s gross profit margins shrunk from 12.2pc in 2QFY19 to 7.97pc in 2QFY20. It posted a cumulative earnings per share of Rs29.32 for the period under review.
Meanwhile, Habib Bank Limited (HBL -0.69pc) announced an EPS of Rs10.27 for FY19 as compared to Rs8.04 a year earlier. The company also declared a final cash dividend of Rs1.25.
Also, United Bank Limited (UBL +1.81pc) EPS increased from Rs12.44 in FY18 to Rs15.63 in FY19. The company declared a final cash payout of Rs4.00 per share.
