Daily Times

The Pakistan Stock Exchange (PSX) turned green on Friday after three consecutive bearish sessions, with the benchmark KSE-100 Index gaining 81.04 points (+0.17 percent) to close at 48,238.67 points.

The market opened on a positive note due to ease in commodity prices internationally, however, it oscillated between green and red zones. The KSE-100 Index traded in a range of 389.1 points, showing an intraday high of 48,411.8 points and a low of 48,022.7 points.

Among other indices, the KSE All Share Index gained 79.32 points (+0.24 percent) to close at 32,869.23 points, while All Share Islamic Index gained 71.21 points (+0.3 percent) to close at 23,761.85 points.

A total of 383 companies traded shares in the stock exchange, out of them shares of 210 closed up, shares of 151 closed down while shares of 22 companies remained unchanged.

The overall market volumes decreased by 366.87 million to 750.56 million shares. The number of total trades decreased by 18,804 to 174,087, while value traded increased by Rs1.06 billion to Rs20.67 billion. The overall market capitalisation increased by Rs20.05 billion.

Among scrips, HUMNL topped the volumes with 88.08 million shares, followed by WTL (76.46 million) and BYCO (70.89 million). Stocks that contributed significantly to the volumes include HUMNL, WTL, BYCO, UNITY and Silk, which formed over 44 percent of total volumes.

The sectors propping up the index were cement with 58 points, refinery with 39 points, technology & communication with 19 points, fertilizer with 17 points and insurance with 14 points. The most points added to the index were by LUCK which contributed 31 points followed by NRL with 20 points, POL with 20 points, TRG with 19 points and FFC with 14 points.

Sector-wise, the index was let down by commercial banks with 77 points, food & personal care products with 16 points, automobile assembler with 10 points, power generation & distribution with 6 points and glass & ceramics with 3 points. The most points taken off the index were by HBL which stripped the index of 63 points followed by MTL with 15 points, OGDC with 14 points, MCB with 13 points and UNITY with 12 points.

The analysts at Arif Habib Limited said that following a three-day losing streak, the benchmark KSE-100 took a breather as it gained 81 points, after losing 567 points in the past three sessions, consolidating the day’s session at 48,238 level. They said that the positive trend in stocks mainly stemmed from easing commodity prices internationally. However, concerns of redemption with some mutual funds maintained selling pressure, they added. The index remained range-bound, as it traded between its intraday high of 48,411.72 and a low of 48,023.53, they maintained.