KARACHI: Bullish trend continued at the Pakistan Stock Exchange (PSX) on Tuesday, as the indices kept accumulating gains throughout the day despite a slight contraction in volumes.
Foreign investors closed as net sellers for the fifth consecutive session on Monday, registering a net outflow of $2.41 million.
“The market managed to maintain the positive momentum from yesterday, with E&P and cement stocks leading the way on Tuesday. However, traded volume remained thin, as has been the case in the past couple of sessions, mainly due to the [FY20] year-end market valuation of portfolio scrips by institutional investors,” said a research report issued by Arif Habib Ltd.
The benchmark KSE-100 Index remained in the green zone throughout the day, registering its intraday high at 34,072.97 after gaining 335.05 points. It closed higher by 314.69 points at 34,052.61.
Among other indices, the KMI-30 Index accumulated 692.56 points to end at 54,538.78, while the KSE All Share Index gathered 154.84 points, settling at 24,401.25. Of the total traded shares, 202 advanced and 97 declined.
The overall market volumes declined from 161.29 million shares in the last session to 159.95 million shares (-0.8pc). Average traded value also fell by 9pc, from $36.5 million to $33.5 million. TRG Pakistan Limited (TRG +7.49pc), Unity Foods Limited (UNITY +3.53pc) and Maple Leaf Cement Factory Limited (MLCF +2.49pc) topped the volume chart, exchanging 11.82 million, 11.05 million and 6.96 million shares, respectively.
Sectors that drove the benchmark index north included oil & gas exploration (+68.30 points), cement (+37.93 points) and oil & gas marketing (+35.63 points). Among the companies, Oil and Gas Development Company Ltd (OGDC +36.21 points), Hub Power Company Ltd (HUBC +29.25 points) and Fauji Fertilizer Company (FFC +21.82 points) remained the top contributors.
Amid expectations of a hike in urea prices from next month, the fertiliser sector added 0.42pc to its cumulative market capitalization, with Fatima Fertilizer Company Ltd (FATIMA +1.91pc), Fauji Fertilizer Bin Qasim Ltd (FFBL +0.65pc) and Fauji Fertilizer Company Ltd (FFC +1.32pc) ending with decent gains.
