Daily Times

KARACHI: Pakistan Stock Exchange (PSX) witnessed a volatile session on Tuesday amid political instability due to the election results, with the benchmark KSE-100 Index gaining 161.61 points (+0.26 percent) to close at 61,226.92 points.

Just like previous two sessions, the market opened on a sharp negative note and shed over 1,400 points during the initial hours. However, after noon, the shares reversed the trend and eroded their losses. The market witnessed intense selling pressure during the last two sessions and shed over 3,000 points.

According to experts, the market made a recovery in technical terms owing to purchases by financial institutions. They hoped that the new government would put an end to the downward trend and enable new investors to enter the market. They added that the share prices of companies had fallen which may lead to increased buying in the near future.

They said that the initial downward trajectory was led by OGDC and PPL amid reports the International Monetary Fund (IMF) did not agree with the government’s circular debt reduction plan. The market was expecting a big dividend due to this, they said.

The benchmark index traded in a range of 2,041.48 points, showing an intraday high of 61,654.65 points and an intraday low of 59,613.17 points. Among other indices, the KSE All Share Index shed 64.52 points (-0.16 percent) to close at 41,290.80 points. Similarly, the KMI All Share Islamic Index shed 107.29 points (-0.36 percent) to close at 29,796.64 points.

Total volumes traded for the KSE-100 Index increased by 52.60 million to 253.49 million shares against 200.89 million shares a session earlier. The overall market volumes increased by 85.57 million to 435.55 million shares against 349.98 million shares a session earlier.

Among scrips, KEL topped the volumes with 65.82 million shares, followed by WTL (30.1 million) and PRL (28.6 million). Stocks that contributed significantly to the volumes included KEL, WTL, PRL, PPL, and CNERGY, which formed over 37 percent of total volumes.

A total of 352 companies traded shares in the stock exchange against 349 a session earlier, out of which shares of 188 closed up, shares of 136 companies closed down while shares of 28 companies remained unchanged. A total of 94 companies traded shares in the KSE-100 Index against 91 a session earlier, out of which share prices of 55 companies closed up, 33 companies closed down and six remained unchanged. The number of total trades increased to 190,764 from 160,369 a session earlier, while the value traded increased by Rs3.22 billion to Rs15.97 billion against Rs12.75 billion a session earlier.

In terms of rupee, MARI remained the top gainer with an increase of Rs161.03 (+7.5 percent) per share, closing at Rs2,308.04. The runner-up remained ZIL, the share price of which climbed up by Rs21.23 (+7.5 percent) to Rs304.33. RMPL remained the top loser with a decrease of Rs346.99 (-4.01 percent) per share, closing at Rs8,303.01, followed by KPUS, the share price of which fell by Rs32.29 (-7.5 percent) to close at Rs398.25 per share.

The major sectors taking the index towards north remained commercial banks (176 points), fertilizer (118 points), cement (42 points), power generation and distribution (38 points), engineering (20 points), automobile assemblers and miscellaneous (17 points each), textile composite (10 points) and cable and electrical goods (10 points).

Ten major companies adding points to the index remained MARI (79 points), EFERT (44 points), UBL (40 points), HUBC (30 points), MEBL (21 points), MCB (18 points), HBL and FFBL (16 points each), ILP (13 points), and ILP (10 points).

The major sectors taking the index towards south remained oil & gas exploration companies (166 points), oil & gas marketing companies (52 points), automobile parts and accessories (16 points), refinery (13 points) and pharmaceutical companies (9 points).

Ten major companies depriving the index of points remained OGDC (102 points), PPL (72 points), PSO (21 points), BAHL (11 points), THALL (9 points), NCPL (7 points), KAPCO and SNGP (6 points each), and ENGRO and HINOON (5 points each).