KARACHI: The Pakistan Stock Exchange (PSX) rallied for yet another session on Tuesday, with the benchmark KSE-100 closing in on the 37,000-mark amid soaring volumes.
“Despite international crude prices facing a down day, the exploration and production scrips, particularly Pakistan Petroleum Ltd and Pakistan Oilfields Ltd, posted decent gains, with PPL witnessing a significant increase in volumes,” said a report issued by AHL Research. “Profit booking was observed throughout the day in the cement sector, which made the index shed some gains towards the end.”
It may be noted that crude oil prices headed south on Tuesday, with WTI crude oil price falling to $39.77 (-0.82pc) and Brent crude oil price sliding to $42.45 (-0.61pc). The decline comes on the back of a spike in US Covid-19 cases over the weekend.
MARKET SUMMARY
Losing 83.87 points in early trade, the KSE-100 Index touched its intraday low at 36,534.70. The index, however, reversed its direction thereon, accumulating 317.46 points to record its intraday high at 36,936.03. It finally settled higher by 126.65 points at 36,745.22.
Among other indices, the KMI-30 Index gathered 279.36 points to close at 59,206.04, while the KSE All Share Index added 68.09 points, ending at 26,157.20. Of the total traded shares, 193 advanced and 141 declined.
The overall market volumes dipped slightly from 468.88 million shares in the previous session to 466.24 million shares. Average traded value also declined by 2pc, from $111 million to $109.5 million. K-Electric Limited (KEL +7.62pc), Pak Elektron Limited (PAEL +4.71pc) and Maple Leaf Cement Factory Limited (MLCF -0.75pc) led the volume chart, exchnaging 39.27 million, 33.54 million and 25.27 million shares, respectively.
Sectors that brought value to the benchmark index included oil & gas exploration (+65.71 points), investment banking (+36.43 points) and fertilizer (+24.04 points). Among the companies, Pakistan Oilfields Limited (POL +43.58 points), Dawood Hercules Corporation Limited (DAWH +31.08 points) and Pak Petroleum Limited (PPL +15.58 points) remained the top points contributors.
Adding 1.05pc to its cumulative market capitalization, the automobile assembling sector turned to be the session top gainer, with Indus Motor Company Limited (INDU +2.47pc), Hinopak Motors Limited (HINO +7.50pc) and Al-Ghazi Tractors Limited (AGTL +2.13pc) accumulating decent gains.
Analysts attribute the auto sectors gain to the latest figures announced by Pakistan Automotive Manufacturers Association (PAMA), wherein passenger car sales witnessed a decline of 50.39pc in June 2020 as compared to the same period last year.
