Daily Times

Pakistan Stock Exchange (PSX) extended gains for the second straight day on Thursday, with the benchmark KSE-100 Index gaining 529.05 points (+1.26 percent) to close at 42,541.71 points.

The market opened on a slight positive note but indices switched between the red and green territories for the first hour trading. The investors remained on the sidelines as the International Monetary Fund (IMF) has clearly subjected the release of tranche to the removal of energy subsidy. However, later bulls controlled the market for the rest of the session as the former prime minister Imran Khan called off the long march while giving an ultimatum to the government to resign for early elections in the country.

The KSE-100 Index moved in a range of 702.97 points, showing an intraday high of 42,607.43 and a low of 41,904.46 points. Among other indices, the KSE All Share Index gained 270.11 points (+0.94 percent) to close at 29,026.85 points, while KMI All Share Islamic Index gained 284.85 points (+1.39 percent) to close at 20,814.94 points.

A total of 360 companies traded shares in the stock exchange compared to 339 a session earlier. Out of traded companies, shares of 269 closed up, shares of 67 closed down while shares of 24 companies remained unchanged. A total of 96 companies traded shares in the KSE-100 Index, out of which 78 closed up, 16 closed down and two remained unchanged.

The overall market volumes increased by 107.02 million to 347.07 million shares. Total volumes traded for the KSE-100 Index increased by 13.13 million to 133.68 million shares. The number of total trades increased by 34,522 to 137,210, while the value traded increased by Rs1.47 billion to Rs9.04 billion. Overall market capitalisation increased by Rs65.75 billion.

Among scrips, PRL topped the volumes with 35.66 million shares, followed by CNERGY (19.65 million) and TELE (18.44 million). Stocks that contributed significantly to the volumes included PRL, CNERGY, TELE, GGL and TPLP, which formed over 40 percent of total volumes.

In terms of rupee, SIEM remained the top gainer and witnessed an increase of Rs45 (+7.5 percent) per share, closing at Rs645. The runner-up remained PMPK, the share price of which climbed up by Rs38.87 (+7.18 percent) to Rs580. COLG remained the top loser in terms of rupee and witnessed a decrease of Rs76.71 (-3.49 percent) per share, closing at Rs2,123.28, followed by INDU, the share price of which fell by Rs18.43 (-1.43 percent) to close at Rs1,268.17 per share.

The sectors taking the index towards north were technology & communication (157 points), cement (74 points), commercial banks (63 points), fertilizer (32 points), and oil & gas marketing companies (30 points). The most points added to the index were by SYS (94 points), TRG (39 points), LUCK (34 points), UBL (19 points), and MTL (18 points).

The sectors taking the index towards south were leather & tanneries (6 points), automobile parts & accessories and miscellaneous (2 points each), and real estate investment trust and modarabas (one point each). The most points taken off the index were by COLG and ABL (14 points each), BAHL (7 points), and INDU and SRVI (6 points each).