Daily Times

The KSE 100 Index remained positive throughout the session on the back of declining Pakistan Investment Bonds yields in the auction held yesterday, where 3-year, 5-year and 10-year cut-off yields fell by 1.15%, 0.90% and 0.89%, respectively.

The State Bank of Pakistan sold Pakistan Investment Bonds (PIBs) worth Rs101 billion as against the target of Rs100 billion.

The index remained positive throughout the session touching an intraday high of 34,305.60.It settled higher by 442.27 points at 34,203.68 points. The KMI 30 Index jumped 1.11pc to close at 55,842.17, while the KSE All Share Index gained 126.30 points, ending at 24,698.78. The advancers to decliners’ ratio stood at 209 to 89.

Sectors that picked up the index were Commercial Banks with 113 points, Oil & Gas Exploration Companies with 71 points, Fertilizer with 57 points, Cement with 54 points and Inv. Banks / Inv. Cos. / Securities Cos. with 47 points. For the outgoing month, the KSE-100 Index jumped by 2,124.83 points as Engro Corporation Limited ,Mari Petroleum Company Limited ,Habib Bank Limited ,Pakistan State Oil Company Limited and Dawood Hercules Limited posted phenomenal performances in October.

Market Cap increased by Rs.24.35 billion while all Share Volume increased by 54.01 Million to 183.98 Million Shares. The Total companies traded were 355 compared to 345 from the previous session. Of the scrips traded 235 closed up, 101 closed down while 19 remained unchanged. Total trades increased by 5,348 to 61,005.

The overall market volumes were recorded at 183.98 million with Worldcall Telecom Limited topping the chart; 24.26 million shares (13.18pc of the total volume) were traded following ARY Communications’ announcement that it was interested in acquiring a majority stake in WorldCall.

Meanwhile, banking sector profitability rose to Rs45.5 billion in the third quarter of 2019, up 48pc when compared with the same period last year (20pc QoQ).The increase in profitability is primarily on the back of a 33pc Year on Year increase in net interest income and 17pc Year on Year growth in non-interest income. The biggest increase was posted by Bank Islami followed by HBL and Meezan bank.