KARACHI: Pakistan Stock Exchange on Friday opened on a negative note due to selling pressure, mainly in cement sector, however fresh buying in fertilizer and banking sectors in the second half of the trading session supported the market to turn bullish and to close at its new highest-ever level.
The benchmark KSE-100 Index increased by 467.33 points or 0.40 percent and closed at its new highest ever level of 117,586.98 points. The index hit 117,891.62 points intraday high and 115,580.02 points intraday low.
Trading activity remained low as total daily volumes on ready counter decreased to 935.783 million shares as compared to 1,037.862 million shares traded on Thursday. The daily traded value on the ready counter declined to Rs 39.620 billion against previous session’s Rs 46.570 billion.
BRIndex100 gained 61.26 points or 0.5 percent to close at 12,424.56 points with total daily turnover of 812.408 million shares.
BRIndex30 declined by 725.16 points or 1.9 percent to close at 37,492.95 points with daily trading volumes of 565.564 million shares.
Foreign investors also remained net buyers of shares worth $1.074 million. Total market capitalization declined by Rs 4 billion to Rs 14.633 trillion. Out of total 456 active scrips, 246 closed in negative and 167 in positive while the value of 43 stocks remained unchanged.
WorldCall Telecom was the volume leader with 73.230 million shares however lost Rs 0.09 to close at Rs 1.70 followed by Cnergyico PK that closed at Rs 7.55, down Rs 0.01 with 57.326 million shares. Fauji Cement declined by Rs 2.24 to close at Rs 34.83 with 54.376 million.
Al-Ghazi Tractors and Mehmood Textile Mills were the top gainers increasing by Rs 62.97 and Rs 45.94 respectively to close at Rs 692.63 and Rs 665.00 while Unilever Pakistan Foods and Khyber Textile Mills were the top losers declining by Rs 227.69 and Rs 45.46 respectively to close at Rs 20,992.31 and Rs 581.54.
An analyst at Topline Securities said the KSE-100 Index opened on a negative note largely led by pressure in cement sector as index declined to make an intraday low of minus 1,540 points. Pressure in cement sector was on noise that there is dispute among cement manufacturers for increase in market share and change in geographic sales to fetch higher retention price where some players are reportedly encroaching on the volumes of others, creating unease within the sector.
However, in second half of trading session investors came in with access available liquidity to buy the dip as index recovered to close at 117,587 level (up by 0.4 percent).
Top positive contribution to the index came from fertilizer sector as EFERT, FFC, DAWH and ENGRO cumulatively contributed plus 911 points to the index. This interest in fertilizer sector was on account of expectation of increase in dispatch number by 53 percent MoM for the month of December 2024.
On the other hand, LUCK, SYS, PPL, FCCL and PIOC, lost value to weigh down on the index by minus 466 points. Traded value wise ENGRO (Rs.2.14 billion), FFC (Rs.2.11 billion), FCCL (Rs.1.88 billion), PSO (Rs.1.76 billion) and PAEL (Rs.1.44 billion) dominated the trading activity.
BR Automobile Assembler Index increased by 166.93 points or 0.76 percent to close at 22,051.81 points with total turnover of 6.200 million shares.
BR Cement Index plunged by 505.37 points or 4.36 percent to close at 11,097.73 points with 105.377 million shares.
BR Commercial Banks Index surged by 168.65 points or 0.56 percent to close at 30,426.34 points with 92.681 million shares.
BR Power Generation and Distribution Index declined by 238.14 points or 1.27 percent to close at 18,491.03 points with 56.228 million shares.
BR Oil and Gas Index decreased by 108.24 points or 0.84 percent to close at 12,723.00 points with 47.283 million shares.
BR Tech. & Comm. Index fell by 161.55 points or 2.76 percent to close at 5,697.87 points with 148.901 million shares.
Ahsan Mehanti at Arif Habib Corporation said stocks closed bullish led by banking and fertilizer sector in the earnings season rally at PSX on strong earnings outlook.
He said expected strong payout in the banking sector and upbeat data on urea fertilizer sales surging by 58 percent YoY in December 2024 and projections SBP key policy rate cut this month played a catalyst role in bullish close at PSX.
Copyright Business Recorder, 2025
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