KARACHI: Bulls of the Pakistan Stock Exchange (PSX) came roaring back to the market on Tuesday, with the indices recovering all losses accumulated in early trade to close in green.
Global equity markets showed a mixed pattern, whereas crude oil prices slipped lower from the previous close; WTI crude price declining 0.59pc to $40.36 while Brent crude price falling 0.56pc to $42.63.
“The index lost over 300 points in early trade, as settlement ratios from last week’s rollover activity caused selling pressure at the bourse, in addition to redemption called by mutual fund investors,” said a report issued by AHL Ltd. “However, as soon as the settlement concluded, heavy buying activity took place in HASCOL, PSO, ENGRO, which helped the index erase all losses and post significant gains towards the end.”
MARKET SUMMARY
The benchmark KSE-100 Index saw volatile activity for most part of the day, registering its intraday low at 40,389.80 (-351.15 points) and intraday high at 41,445.47 (+704.52 points). It settled higher by 463.41 points at 41,204.36.
Among other indices, the KMI-30 Index accumulated 726.82 points to end at 65,884.01, while the KSE All Share Index added 281.61 points, closing at 29,295.24.
The overall market volumes declined from 407.19 million shares in the previous session to 353.65 million (-13pc). Average traded value also declined by 3pc, from $86.1 million to $83.2 million. Hascol Petroleum Ltd (HASCOL +5.85pc), Unity Foods Ltd (UNITY +1.10pc) and K-Electric Ltd (KEL +0.48pc) led the volume chart, exchanging 50.22 million 22.63 million and 21.17 million shares, respectively.
Sectors that painted the benchmark index green included banking (+136.94 points), oil & gas exploration (+61.37 points) and oil & gas marketing (+47.18 points). Among the companies, Bank AL Habib Ltd (BAHL +43.22 points), Engro Corporation Ltd (ENGRO +38.06 points) and Lucky Cement Ltd (LUCK +37.64 points) remained the top contributors.
Adding 5.73pc to its cumulative market capitalization, the refinery sector ended as the session’s top gainer, with Byco Petroleum Pakistan Ltd (BYCO +7.88pc), Attock Refinery Ltd (ATRL +4.65pc), Pakistan Refinery Ltd (PRL +4.60pc) and National Refinery Ltd (NRL +2.06pc) posting decent gains.
Meanwhile, the Searle Company Ltd (SEARL -1.83pc) announced its financial performance for FY20. The company’s sales surged by 13.96pc YoY, while cost of sales fell by 13.7pc, increasing gross profit by 68pc YoY. As the company’s admin expenses increased by 18.97pc YoY and finance cost by 49.86pc, its earnings per share fell from Rs12.44 in FY19 to Rs11.56 in FY20.
Moreover, Service Industries Limited (SRVI +3.71pc) announced that its wholly-owned subsidiary, Service Global Footwear Ltd, has decided to raise capital through Initial Public Offering (IPO) and subsequently get itself listed on PSX.
