KARACHI: The Pakistan Stock Exchange (PSX) continued to head north on Tuesday, with the indices accumulating gains all day long amid significant rise in investors’ interest ahead of the results season.
“The stock market momentum remained buoyant today, mainly led by the cement sector, which performed well on the back of expected increase in cement prices. Similarly, exploration & production and oil & gas marketing sectors did well due to an uptick in international crude price as well as the pending decision over revision of OMCs dealer margins — expected to be taken in tomorrow’s ECC meeting. Fertilizer sector also performed due to the recent price hike in DAP prices,” a report issued by Arif Habib Ltd read.
MARKET SUMMARY
Reminiscent of the previous session, the benchmark KSE-100 Index remained in the green throughout the day, registering its intraday high at 46,398.01 after gaining 310.37 points. It settled higher by 199.74 points at 46,287.38.
Among other indices, the KMI-30 Index surged 561.95 points to end at 73,608.36, while the KSE All Share Index inched up 75.01 points, closing at 32,025.47.
The overall market volumes increased from 470.02 million shares in the previous session to 603.23 million shares (+28pc). Average traded value also went up 27pc, from $131 million to $166.8 million. JS Bank Ltd (JSBL -3.33pc), TRG Pakistan Ltd (TRG +3.01pc) and Fauji Fertilizer Bin Qasim Ltd (FFBL -3.13pc) led the volume chart, exchanging 65.35 million, 36.20 million and 36.02 million shares, respectively.
Sectors that kept the benchmark index in the green zone included cement (+92.87 points), technology & communication (+42.97 points) and oil & gas marketing (+34.35 points). Among the companies, TRG Pakistan Ltd (TRG +36.70 points), Pakistan State Oil Company Ltd (PSO +25.66 points) and Pioneer Cement Ltd (PIOC +21.46 pts) remained the top contributors.
Adding 1.81pc to its cumulative market capitalization, the cement sector ended as the session’s top performer, with Lucky Cement Ltd (LUCK +1.00pc), DG Khan Cement Company Ltd (DGKC +1.22pc) and Bestway Cement Ltd (BWCL +1.14pc) posting decent gains.
On the financial side, Fauji Fertilizer Bin Qasim Ltd (FFBL -3.13pc) announced earnings per share of Rs2.12 for FY20 as compared to Rs5.72 last year, whereas National Refinery Ltd(NRL +0.84pc) posted an EPS of Rs6.11 for 2QFY20 as compared to Rs28.84 in 2QFY19.
Meanwhile, in a notification to the exchange, Hi-Tech Lubricants Ltd (HTL +1.84pc) informed that its management has “initiated expansions at the plant of its wholly-owned subsidiary, Hi-tech Blending (Pvt) Ltd, considering high volume of sales and increase in locally blended products in the future”.
