Daily Times

The Pakistan Stock Exchange (PSX) continued with a bullish session on the back of the relief and industrial packages announced on Monday and Tuesday, and the benchmark KSE-100 Index gained 342.57 points (+0.77 percent) to close at 44,803.58 points.

The PSX opened on a positive note, hitting the 45,000 points mark at the opening, and remained in the green territory throughout the session. The international crude oil prices remained upward due to the Russia-Ukraine conflict, which trimmed the gains. Besides relief packages, the investors’ confidence was further supported by February inflation numbers, clocking in at 12.24 percent on a year-on-year basis compared to 8.70 percent in February 2021 and 12.96 percent in January 2022.

The KSE-100 Index moved in a range of 555.64 points, showing an intraday low of 44,461.01 points and a high of 45,016.65 points. Among other indices, the KSE All Share Index gained 275.63 points (+0.9 percent) to close at 30,799.25 points, while KMI All Share Islamic Index gained 239.99 points (+1.08 percent) to close at 22,373.35 points.

A total of 367 companies traded shares in the stock exchange, out of them shares of 227 closed up, shares of 117 closed down while shares of 23 companies remained unchanged. Out of 94 traded companies in the KSE-100 Index, 61 closed up and 31 closed down and two remained unchanged.

The overall market volumes increased by 101.22 million to 309.35 million shares. Total volumes traded for the KSE-100 Index increased by 48.04 million to 81.02 million shares. The number of total trades increased by 38,061 to 134,587, while the value traded increased by Rs4.38 billion to Rs10.45 billion. Overall, market capitalisation increased by Rs68.70 billion.

Among scrips, WTL topped the volumes with 29.9 million shares, followed by TPLP (19.15 million) and TRG (18.32 million). Stocks that contributed significantly to the volumes included WTL, TPLP, TRG, TELE and GGL, which formed over 31 percent of total volumes. In terms of rupee, COLG remained the top gainer and witnessed an increase of Rs138 (6.35 percent) per share, closing at Rs2,310, whereas the runner-up was RMPL, the share price of which climbed up for the sixth straight day by Rs125 (1.14 percent) to Rs11,125. SAPT remained the top loser in terms of rupee and witnessed a decrease of Rs85.8 (7.5 percent) per share, closing at Rs1,058.2, followed by INDU, the share price of which declined by Rs44.34 (3.01 percent) to close at Rs1,429.56 per share.

The sectors taking the index towards north were oil & gas exploration companies with 146 points, technology & communication (101 points), chemical (35 points), power generation & distribution (21 points) and refinery (19 points). The most points added to the index were by PPL which contributed 82 points followed by TRG (69 points), OGDC (60 points), COLG (24 points) and NBP (23 points). The sectors taking the index towards south were cement with 27 points, sugar & allied industries (5 points), insurance and fertilizer (4 points each) and close-end mutual funds (3 points).