Bullish momentum persisted at the Pakistan Stock Exchange (PSX) as the benchmark KSE-100 Index gained nearly 700 points on Friday.
Bulls maintained a strong grip in the market throughout the session and helped the index close the week on a positive note.
At close, the benchmark index settled at 78,569.59, up by 695.36 points 0.89%.
Earlier, buying was seen in key sectors including automobile assemblers, cement, commercial banks, pharmaceuticals and OMCs.
Major positive contributions to the index came from MARI, UBL, MCB, SYS and MEBL, as they cumulatively contributed 566 points to the index, brokerage house Topline Securities said in its post-market report.
On Thursday, the PSX witnessed a bullish trend and closed on a strong positive note with healthy gains on the back of aggressive buying on attractive low levels.
On week-on-week basis, the KSE-100 gained 0.44% on the back of results announcement by the listed companies.
Sentiments improved on account of strong corporate showings and a reduction in cut-off yield of government bonds.
The cut-off yields of all security papers fell higher than expectations, i.e. from 50 to 54 basis points (bps) in the auction. Yield on the 3-month bond fell by 52bps to 18.9748 with accepted bids of Rs63 billion.
In a key development, inflow of overseas workers’ remittances clocked in at nearly $3 billion in July, a massive 48% higher on a year-on-year basis when compared with $2.03 billion in the same month of the previous year, showed data released on Friday by the State Bank of Pakistan (SBP).
In its stock notice, Lucky Cement said its profit-after-tax had amounted to Rs72.34 billion, an increase of over 21% during the year 2024, compared with Rs59.54 billion in the previous year on account of higher revenue and lower cost of sales.
Meanwhile, high-level officials from Pakistan including Finance Minister Muhammad Aurangzeb and Minister for Power Sardar Awais Ahmad Khan Leghari held discussions with the Chinese authorities on the country’s energy sector.
As per a statement released by the Finance Division, Federal Minister for Finance and Revenue Senator Muhammad Aurangzeb held a meeting with China’s Charge D’affaires Shi Yuanqiang and other officials of the Embassy of People’s Republic of China on Thursday.
Globally, China stocks rose on Friday after data showed the country’s consumer prices increased at a faster-than-expected rate in July, although analysts cautioned that demand remains sluggish.
The rise also tracked a jump in global markets, as data showed US jobless claims fell more than expected last week, suggesting fears the labor market is unraveling were overblown.
Asian shares are ending a rough week on a high as Japanese stocks are close to recouping all of the huge losses from Monday, while the yen slipped again as markets pared back the chance of an outsized US rate cut.
Around the region, MSCI’s Asia ex-Japan stock index was firmer by 2.04% while Japan’s Nikkei index was up 1.16%.
The Pakistani rupee registered marginal improvement, appreciating 0.05% against the US dollar in the inter-bank market on Friday. At close, the currency settled at 278.55, a gain of Re0.14, against the greenback.
Volume on the all-share index decreased to 420.40 million from 493.09 million a session ago.
The value of shares declined to Rs20.72 billion from Rs25.85 billion in the previous session.
Kohinoor Spinning was the volume leader with 64.78 million shares, followed by Yousuf Weaving with 24.86 million shares, and The Organic Meat with 18.12 million shares.
Shares of 446 companies were traded on Friday, of which 226 registered an increase, 156 recorded a fall, while 64 remained unchanged.
Comments