KARACHI: The Pakistan Stock Exchange (PSX) carried on the northward journey on Thursday, with the benchmark index accumulating around 200 points despite profit booking in some sectors.
“The market opened on positive note, but profit booking later in the day, mainly in exploration & production, cement, steel and oil & gas marketing sectors, dragged the index lower,” a report issued by Arif Habib Ltd read. “Nevertheless, aggressive buying was witnessed throughout the day in banking and fertilizer sectors, whereas news regarding removal of additional customs duties on 152 tariff lines helped textile and chemical stocks put up a decent show.”
MARKET SUMMARY
Reminiscent of the previous session, the benchmark KSE-100 Index remained in the green throughout the day, registering its intraday high at 45,619.80 after gaining 466.38 points. It settled higher by 191.12 points at 45,344.54.
Among other indices, the KMI-30 Index lost 150.43 points to close at 73,679.96, whereas the KSE All Share Index appreciated 21.85 points, ending at 31,652.43.
The overall market volumes dropped slightly from 664.52 million shares in the previous session to 641.41 million shares (-4pc). Average traded value, on the contrary, increased 3pc, from $154.3 million to $159.5 million. Byco Petroleum Pakistan Ltd (BYCO +0.20pc), Power Cement Ltd (POWER +0.19pc) and Kot Addu Power Company Ltd (KAPCO +4.69pc) led the volume chart, exchanging 94.87 million, 34.20 million and 32.19 million shares, respectively.
Sectors that kept the benchmark index afloat included banking (+177.30 points), fertilizer (+99.74 points) and investment banking (+11.87 points). Among the companies, United Bank Ltd (UBL +88.04 points), Habib Bank Ltd (HBL +43.73 points) and Fauji Fertilizer Company Ltd (FFC +37.39 points) remained the top contributors.
Adding 1.70pc to its cumulative market capitalization, the fertilizer sector ended as the session’s top performer, with FFC (+2.11pc), Fauji Fertilizer Bin Qasim Ltd (FFBL +3.11pc) and Engro Corporation Ltd (ENGRO 1.20pc) posting decent gains.
