KARACHI: The Pakistan Stock Exchange (PSX) staged a remarkable recovery on the last trading session of the week, with the benchmark index accumulating gains all day long, crossing the 43,000-mark.
Global equity markets also showed a positive trend, whereas crude oil prices inched lower from the previous close; WTI crude price dropping 0.27pc to $65.84 while Brent crude price falling 0.24pc to $69.46 (as at 5:08pm PST).
“The market bounced back today, gaining over 1,200 points intraday mainly on the back of cement, steel, banking and technology stocks, which were the subject of leveraged positions during the week. Besides, excitement over Senate elections also had some bearing on the stock market, where anticipation of a government victory kept the investor sentiment upbeat, a report issued by Arif Habib Ltd read.
MARKET SUMMARY
Contrary to this week’s trend, the benchmark KSE-100 Index remained in the green throughout the day, touching its intraday high at 43,986.18 after gathering 1,206.42 points. It settled higher by 1,008.32 points at 43,788.08. On a week-on-week basis, however, the index lost 4.47pc in terms of value.
Among other indices, the KMI-30 Index accumulated 1,895.41 points to close at 72,524.63, while the KSE All Share Index added 640.44 points, ending at 30,013.05.
The overall market volumes improved from 406.08 million shares in the previous session to 442.52 million shares (+9pc). Average traded value also increased by 22pc, from $112.7 million to $137.4 million. Unity Foods Ltd (UNITY +5.02pc), TRG Pakistan Ltd (TRG -0.28pc) and Jahangir Siddiqui & Company Ltd (JSCL -7.46pc) led the volume chart, exchanging 88.26 million, 38.84 million and 17.74 million shares, respectively.
Sectors that painted the benchmark index green included cement (+223.08 points), banking (+151.16 points) and oil & gas exploration (+89.93 points). Among the companies, Lucky Cement Ltd (LUCK +76.16 points), Hub Power Company Ltd (HUBC +60.64 points) and Habib Bank Ltd (HBL +46.23 points) remained the top contributors.
Adding 4.28pc to its cumulative market capitalisation, the cement sector ended as the session’s top performer, with Lucky Cement Ltd (LUCK 3.15pc), Bestway Cement Ltd (BWCL 2.57pc) and DG Khan Cement Company Ltd (DGKC 6.81pc) posting decent gains.
Meanwhile, in a notification to the exchange, Sazgar Engineering Works Ltd (SAZEW +7.49pc) informed that it “has signed a Vehicle Assembly Technical & Corporation Agreement with a Chinese automobile manufacturer for manufacturing, assembly, sales and after sales services of passenger and commercial vehicles, subject to approval of relevant authorities”.
