Daily Times

The Pakistan Stock Exchange (PSX) on Monday witnessed a bullish trend as the benchmark KSE-100 index gained 584.47 points (+1.42 points) and closed at 41,850 points.

The investors reacted positively to media reports that Pakistan has successfully completed 21 out of 27 points outlined by the Financial Action Task Force (FATF), and that any chance of blacklisting is off the table.

The benchmark KSE-100 Index remained in the green throughout the day, touching its intraday high at 41,876.79 after accumulating 610.79 points. It settled higher by 584.47 points at 41,850.47. Among other indices, the KMI-30 Index gathered 1,459.90 points to end at 67,394.62, while the KSE All Share Index added 321.25 points, closing at 29,439.51.

A total of 487,158,467 shares were traded during the day compared to the trade of 354,430,658 shares the previous day whereas the price of shares stood at Rs21.514 billion against Rs15.613 billion the previous day.

As many as 430 companies’ transacted shares in the stock market, 307 of them recorded gain and 105 sustained losses whereas the share price of 18 companies remained unchanged.

The three top traded companies were Maple leaf with a volume of 48,526,243 shares and price per share of Rs42.18, Power Cement with a volume of 38,320,000 and price per share of Rs9.54 and Fauji Cement with a volume of 31,227,000 and price per share of Rs20.79.

Rafhan Maize recorded a maximum increase of Rs200 per share, closing at Rs8300 whereas Millat Tractors-XD was runner-up with the increase of Rs57.80 per share, closing at Rs979.13.

Nestle Pakistan witnessed a maximum decrease of Rs74.69 per share, closing at Rs6425.31 whereas prices of Premier Sugar decreased by Rs42.69 per share closing at Rs526.56.

Sectors that drove the benchmark index north included cement (+229.69 points), technology & communication (+53.66 points) and oil & gas marketing (+44.61 points).

Among the companies, Lucky Cement Ltd (LUCK +120.67 points), Dawood Hercules Corp Ltd (DAWH +37.53 points) and Hub Power Company Ltd (HUBC +36.57 points) remained the top contributors.

Adding 5.02 percent to its cumulative market capitalization, the cement sector ended as the session’s top performer, with LUCK (+6.23 percent), Bestway Cement Ltd (BWCL +2.01 percent) and DG Khan Cement Company Ltd (DGKC +3.34 percent) posting decent gains.

On the financial side, United Bank Ltd (UBL -2.73 percent) announced earnings per share of Rs3.81 for the third quarter of FY20 (Rs3.97 last year); Ferozsons Laboratories Ltd (FEROZ -1.25 percent) declared an EPS of Rs3.65 for 1QFY21 (Rs2.75 in 1QFY20); Highnoon Laboratories Ltd (HINOON +3.19 percent) recorded an EPS of Rs9.43 for 3QFY20 (Rs6.29 last year); Lucky Cement Ltd (LUCK +6.23 percent) registered an EPS of Rs6.89 for 1QFY21 (Rs2.96 last year); whereas Philip Morris Pakistan Ltd (PMPK -0.41 percent) posted an EPS of Rs9.35 for 3QFY20, (Rs12.70 in 3QFY19).