Daily Times

The Pakistan Stock Exchange (PSX) remained bullish on Monday – the second session in a row – with the benchmark KSE-100 Index gaining 541.98 points (+1.18 percent) to close at 45,887.63 points.

The market opened on a negative note and took a dip of around 140 points during the first 10 minutes of the session, mainly due to massive selling in TRG stocks, which brought the index down. However, the market turned around soon and remained positive throughout the session. The KSE-100 Index moved in a range of 761.29 points, showing an intraday low of 45,206 points and a high of 45,967.29 points. Among other indices, the KSE All Share Index gained 308.57 points (+0.99 percent) to close at 31,359.57 points, while KMI All Share Islamic Index gained 170.1 points (+0.76 percent) to close at 22,539.69 points.

A total of 391 companies traded shares in the stock exchange, out of them shares of 249 closed up, shares of 115 closed down while shares of 27 companies remained unchanged. Out of 97 traded companies in the KSE-100 Index, 71 closed up, 20 closed down and six remained unchanged. The overall market volumes increased by 114.70 million to 356.97 million shares. Total volumes traded for the KSE-100 Index increased by 42.50 million to 126.94 million shares. The number of total trades increased by 37,611 to 135,014, while the value traded decreased by Rs3.94 billion to Rs11.87 billion. Overall market capitalisation increased by Rs82.10 billion. Among scrips, UNITYR3 topped the volumes with 33.21 million shares, followed by WTL (30.07 million) and TRG (25.79 million). Stocks that contributed significantly to the volumes included UNITY3R, WTL, TRG, HUMNL, and TELE, which formed around 38 percent of total volumes.

The sectors taking the index towards north were commercial banks with 205 points, power generation & distribution with 70 points, cement with 64 points, miscellaneous with 56 points and technology & communication with 49 points. The most points added to the index were by HUBC which contributed 68 points followed by PSEL with 57 points, MCB with 46 points, TRG with 38 points and HBL with 37 points. The sectors taking the index towards south were fertilizer with 34 points, oil & gas exploration companies with 19 points, insurance with 2 points, investment banks/ investment companies / securities companies and close-end mutual funds with one point each. The most points taken off the index were by EFERT which stripped the index of 35 points followed by POL with 14 points, MARI with 11 points, ENGRO with 11 points and DAWH with eight points.

In terms of rupee, COLG witnessed a maximum increase of Rs168 per share, closing at Rs2,450 whereas the runner-up was UPFL, the share prices of which climbed up by Rs150 to Rs19,500. SFL witnessed a maximum decrease of Rs73.75 per share closing at Rs916, followed by GATI, the share price of which declined by Rs42.44 to close at Rs523.56 per share.

According to experts, the market opened on a negative note on the back of news regarding further delay in the revival of the International Monetary Fund programme. However, it turned positive soon after the government’s clarification in this regard. They said that buying activity was witnessed in the blue chip stocks ahead of the commencement of earnings season. Moreover, the bourse also took positive cues from last week’s foreign investment, which further supported the investors’ confidence, they added.