KARACHI: The Pakistan Stock Exchange (PSX) opened the week on a new high. The index crossed the 47,000 mark in the first trading hour taking the month to date return of the index to over 11%.
The benchmark KSE 100 index looks in no mood of taking a breather and has travelled from a little over 42,000 to over 47,000 in the month of December. None of the indices entered the red zone during the session.
The KSE 100 index jumped up 486.03 point to mark a new all historical high value of 47,070.56. It landed with handsome gains of 354.06 points at 46,938.59. The KMI 30 led by oil scripts marched to intraday high of 81,212.33 with appreciation of 1,056.76 points. The index settled with 557.12 points increase at 80,716.69. The KSE All Share Index swelled 163.35 points to 31,998.48. The advancer to decliner ratio was recorded at 202 to 183.
The market volumes did not change much. A total of 344.151 million shares were exchanged on the table on Monday against 346.068 million of Friday. The volume table was dominated by retail stocks, The Bank of Punjab (BOP +5.73%) topped the chart again with 30.226 million shares traded. Power Cement Limited (POWER +6.23%) and Pakistan International Bulk Terminal Limited (PIBTL +4.98%) followed with volumes of 26.001 million and 20.581 million respectively. The Commercial Bank Sector was volume leader with 87.164 million shares exchanged.
The commercial bank sector saw mid and low tier stocks perform well. Samba Bank Limited (SBL +6.81%) was top gainer with The Bank of Punjab (BOP +5.73%) and Faysal Bank Limited (FABL +4.94=5%) with decent gains. Habib Bank Limited (HBL) also clinched 4.48% while MCB Bank Limited (MCB -0.64%) had a weak trading session.
Automobile assemblers, Pakistan Suzuki Motors Company Limited (PSMC +5.00%) and Honda Atlas Cars (Pakistan) Limited (HCAR +5.00%) both were seen at their upper lock price at time of close. The former hit the day’s maximum possible price as investors spoke about the launch of a new model during the week, no official confirmation of the news could be found. HCAR caught up with its competitor in the last minutes. The company’s new model of Civic has already received a warm welcome from the market.
Engro Corporation Limited (ENGRO +0.79%) informed all stakeholders through a notice to the exchange that Freiesland Campina Pakistan B.V. has completed the mandatory tender offer for share of Engro
Foods Limited (EFOODS -0.79%). ENGRO has completed the transfer of 361.30 million shares of EFOODS for an estimated price of Rs 43,356 million.