KARACHI: The Pakistan Stock Exchange (PSX) extended its rally on Thursday, with the indices accumulating gains all day long ahead of earnings season.
Equity markets around the world also witnessed a positive trend, whereas crude oil prices moved north from the previous close; WTI crude price increasing 1.50pc to $40.56 while Brent crude price rising 1.76pc to $42.72.
“The market continued with the momentum from the last trading session and added over 550 points (unadjusted). Exploration & production, oil & gas marketing, banking and cement stocks contributed to the buying activity on the back of upcoming earnings season,” said a report issued by AHL Ltd.
MARKET SUMMARY
In line with the previous session, the benchmark KSE-100 Index remained in the green territory throughout the day, registering its intraday high at 40,412.06 after accumulating 562.10 points. It settled higher by 503.66 points at 40,353.62.
Among other indices, the KMI-30 Index amassed 1,324.65 points to close at 64,717.65, while the KSE All Share Index added 305.77 points, ending at 28,633.26.
The overall market volumes increased from 431.14 million shares in the previous session to 476.73 million shares (+10pc DoD). Average traded value also increased by 16pc, from $82.5 million to $95.9 million. Hascol Petroleum Ltd (HASCOL +4.28pc), Unity Foods Ltd (UNITY +5.93pc) and TRG Pakistan Ltd (TRG +3.01pc) led the volume chart, exchanging 107.25 million, 56.31 million and 20.69 million shares, respectively.
Sectors that kept the benchmark index in green included oil & gas exploration (+123.42 points), cement (+81.61 points) and oil & gas marketing (+73.36 points). Among the companies, Oil and Gas Development Company Ltd (OGDC +61.75 points), Pakistan State Oil Company Ltd (PSO +46.31 points) and Pak Petroleum Ltd (PPL +32.94 points) remained the top contributors.
Adding 3.44pc to its total market capitalization, the oil & gas marketing sector ended as the session’s top performer, with Pakistan State Oil Company Ltd (PSO +4.90pc), Sui Northern Gas Pipeline Ltd (SNGP +2.50pc) and Sui Southern Gas Company Ltd (SSGC +1.71pc) posting decent gains.
Agha Steel Industries Limited received Rs4.401 billion against issue of Rs2.7 billion in its Book building conducted on 6th and 7th October 2020. High net worth investors, corporates and mutual funds got over 50pc of shares allocated as the IPO was oversubscribed by 1.63 times.
Hascol Petroleum Limited (HASCOL +4.52pc) announced its financial performance for the first quarter of FY20. The company’s sales fell by 30.11pc from last year but Distribution cost surged 17pc YoY. Finance cost inflated from Rs732.01 mn to Rs 1.91 bn resulting in LPS of Rs6.59 for 1QFY20 as compared to Rs 28.37 in 1QFY19.
