Daily Times

The KSE-100 index gained for a fourth consecutive session on Friday, as investors continued to be optimistic about the Pakistan Stock Exchange (PSX) despite falling global energy prices and the rupee’s continued rise against the US dollar.

Oil prices plummeted to multi-month lows during the day, with WTI crude oil selling for $87.95 per barrel and Brent crude oil selling for $93.75 per barrel. This new information provided a boost to the stock market, which resulted in a gain of 670.87 points, or 1.62pc, to finish at 42,096.24 points.

The market received further support from the ongoing recovery of the local currency, which continued to gain ground against the US dollar for the sixth day in a row, providing the market with positive momentum. Although there was selling pressure in the early hours of the market and the KSE-100 index was flat for a considerable amount of time, investor interest picked up again toward the end of the first session, which resulted in a nearly 300-point gain when the market closed.

The surge picked up speed throughout the second session, which contributed to the index breaking the 42,000 point barrier and finishing with significant gains. At the end of the trading day, index heavyweights such as the automobile, cement, chemical, banking, fertiliser, and refinery sectors all posted gains.

The key KSE-100 index finished the week with a rise of 4.85pc compared to the previous week. The foreign exchange reserves of the State Bank of Pakistan decreased by $190m to $8.39b in the week that ended on July 29, 2022, as economic authorities continued to scurry over the issue of ensuring dollar inflows. This was a significant development on the economic front. In addition, the value of the rupee increased for the sixth trading session in a row, finishing the day at Rs224.04 (a gain of Rs2.12 or 0.94pc) when compared to the value of the US dollar.

Meanwhile, the banking industry (181.71 points), cement manufacturing (134.04 points), and automotive assembly were among the industries that contributed to an increase in the benchmark KSE-100 index (42.81 points).

On Friday, volume on the all-share index skyrocketed to 406.7m, up sharply from Thursday’s 275.4m. In a similar vein, the value of shares that were traded skyrocketed to Rs11.6b, an increase of Rs7.9b from the previous session’s recorded value. Pak Refinery came in second with 29.9m shares, while WorldCall Telecom rounded up the top three with 20.4m shares each. Cnergyico PK had the most volume overall with 64.3m shares.On Thursday, shares in 345 firms were exchanged; of those, 264 reported an increase in value, 58 reported a decrease, and 23 reported that their value remained the same.