KARACAHI: The Pakistan Stock Exchange (PSX) managed to end the week on a positive note, with the indices posting decent gains amid range-bound activity.
Equity markets around the world also showed a positive trend, whereas crude oil prices moved north from from the previous close; WTI crude price appreciating 1.36pc to $46.26 while Brent crude oil price rising 1.33pc to $49.36.
“Although the market remained positive for the entire session, it lacked the excitement from investors’ end to make a forward move. E&P stocks responded cautiously to the rise in international crude oil prices following OPEC+ decision to gradually increase output in 2021,” a report issued by Arif Habib Ltd read. “After putting put a decent show for most part of the day, selling pressure in the last half hour, particularly in oil & gas marketing and cement stocks, dragged the index down slightly.”
MARKET SUMMARY
The benchmark KSE-100 remained in the green zone throughout the session, registering its intraday high at 42,316.52 after gaining 268.80 points. It settled higher by 175.36 points at 42,207.00.
Among other indices, the KMI-30 Index accumulated 261.00 points to end at 68,296.61, while the KSE All Share Index gathered 149.89 points, closing at 29,549.41.
The overall market volumes improved from 420.19 million shares in the previous session to 426.84 million shares (+2pc). Average traded value also inched up by 0.5pc, from $112.6 million to $113.2 million. TRG Pakistan Ltd (TRG +3.57pc), Pakistan Refinery Ltd (PRL +2.49pc) and Pakistan Telecommunication Company Ltd (PTC +2.45pc) led the volume chart, exchanging 42.62 million, 30.95 million and 21.73 million shares, respectively.
Sectors that kept the benchmark index afloat included oil & gas exploration (+60.87 points), banking (+56.68 points) and technology & communication (+31.05 points). Among the companies, Oil and Gas Development Company Ltd (OGDC +38.29 points), TRG Pakistan Ltd (TRG +26.45 points) and United Bank Ltd (UBL +14.53 pts) remained the top contributors.
Adding 2.03pc to its cumulative market capitalization, the technology & communications sector ended as the session’s top performer, with NetSol Technologies Ltd (NETSOL +3.57pc), Avanceon Ltd (AVN +1.63pc) and Pakistan Datacom Ltd (PAKD +4.22pc) closing in the positive territory.
