Stocks stage 261-point rally; index crosses 35,000 mark

KARACHI: After yesterday’s lacklustre performance, indices of the Pakistan Stock Exchange (PSX) staged a rally on Wednesday, with the benchmark KSE-100 Index crossing 35,000 mark intraday.

Global equities, on the other hand, remained in the negative zone, with crude oil prices falling from the previous close; WTI Crude oil dropped 2.82pc to $37.84 while Brent Crude oil fell 2.23pc to $40.26.

“Today’s rally was led by the banking sector, as all scripts contributed positively to the index (BAFL hitting upper circuit),” said a report issued by Arif Habib Ltd. “Although crude oil prices remained under pressure, renewed interest in the E&P sector from investors in general and foreigners in particular helped these stocks maintain a plateau.” 

Buying interest was also observed in the chemical stocks. As per Arif Habib Ltd, these stocks may be in the limelight either “due to Covid-19 or anticipated tax relief in the upcoming budget”.

The KSE-100 Index remained in the green zone throughout the session, registering its intraday high at 35,111.54 after gaining 307.94 points. It settled higher by 261.48 points at 35,065.08. 

Among other indices, the KSE All Share Index added 145.34 points to end at 24,977.64, whereas the KMI-30 Index lost 76.44 points to close at 55,714.70. The advancers to decliners ratio stood at 184 to 134.

The overall volumes declined from 238.21 million shares in the previous session to 218.37 million shares (-9pc). The average traded value also declined by 13pc, from $55.6 million to $48.4 million. Pakistan Refinery Limited Right Shares (PRLR1 +0.79pc), TRG Pakistan Limited (TRG +1.17pc) and The Bank of Punjab (BOP +3.06pc) led the volume chart, exchanging 11.68 million, 10.90 million and 8.99 million shares, respectively.

Sectors that painted the index green included banking (+275.56 points), pharmaceutical (+23.70 points), and the textile composite (+16.99 points). Among the companies, banking players Habib Bank Limited (HBL +67.59 points), United Bank Limited (UBL +59.80 points) and Bank AlFalah Limited (BAFL +37.21 points) remained the top contributors.

With the addition of 3.37pc in its cumulative market capitalization, the banking sector emerged as the session’s top performer; MCB (+1.66pc), Habib Bank Limited (HBL 4.08pc) and Bank AlFalah Limited (BAFL +7.29pc) accumulated decent gains.

Meanwhile, in a notification to the exchange, Sazgar Engineering Works Limited (SAZEW +4.87pc) announced its production and sales figures for the month of May 2020. A total of 519 units were produced during the month, while 525 units were sold.