KARACHI: Pakistan Stock Exchange on Monday witnessed bullish trend and booked hefty gains due to aggressive buying by both local and foreign investors coupled with institutional support after easing political situation in the country.

The benchmark KSE-100 index surged by 490.11 points or 0.78 percent and crossed 63,000 psychological level to close at 63,305.93 points. During the session, the index hit 63,732.50 points intra-day high however closed at lower level due to profit taking in some stocks.

Trading activities also improved as total daily volumes on ready counter increased to 452.868 million shares as compared to 377.974 million shares traded on last Friday while total daily traded value on the ready counter increased to Rs 16.491 billion against previous session’s Rs 16.011 billon.

BRIndex100 added 58.39 points or 0.91 percent to close at 6,499.10 points with total daily turnover of 415.292 million shares.

BRIndex30 increased by 167.8 points or 0.76 percent to close at 22,266.29 points with total daily trading volumes of 319.598 million shares.

The foreign investors also remained net buyers of shares worth $1.764 million. Total market capitalization increased by Rs 50 billion to Rs 9.131 trillion. Out of total 345 active scrips, 207 closed in positive and 114 in negative while the value of 24 stocks remained unchanged.

K-Electric was the volume leader with 54.064 million shares and gained Re 0.05 to close at Rs 4.44 followed by Kohinoor Spining that lost Re 0.02 to close at Rs 4.57 with 53.374 million shares. WorldCall Telecom closed at Rs 1.31, up Re 0.01 with 22.971 million shares.

Pakistan Tobacco Company and Sazgar Engineering Works were the top gainers increasing by Rs 35.00 and Rs 24.61 respectively to close at Rs 1,080.00 and Rs 352.72 while Unilever Pakistan Foods and Nestle Pakistan were the top losers declining by Rs 654.17 and Rs 330.11 respectively to close at Rs 21,145.00 and Rs 7,580.00.

An analyst at Topline Securities said that the KSE-100 index commenced on a buoyant note, witnessing an initial surge with an intra-high of plus 916.69 points (up by 1.46 percent), eventually settling at the commendable level of 63,305.93 points (plus 490.12 points).

This bullish momentum in the market finds its roots in the initiation of the provincial government formation process. Notably, the Punjab Assembly elected Maryam Nawaz as the Chief Minister Punjab, while the Sindh Assembly elected Murad Ali Shah as the Chief Minister Sindh. The smooth progression towards government formation at provincial levels has bolstered investor confidence.

Following the general elections, the establishment of governments at the national and provincial levels is under way. Meanwhile, the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) is gearing up to conduct the presidential election on March 09, 2024.

In corporate news, PPL (down 0.79 percent) reported its second quarter FY24 results, boasting an impressive EPS of Rs 14.39, marking a substantial 75 percent YoY increase, with a DPS of Rs 2.5 per share. ENGRO (up 0.61 percent) unveiled its FY23 results, revealing a consolidated EPS of Rs 63.90 and a cash payout of Rs 2.0, culminating in a full dividend of Rs 48.00.

Similarly, in the cement sector, DGKC (down 0.21 percent) and FCCL (up 0.11 percent) released their first half FY24 results, reporting EPS figures of Rs 2.41 and 1.08 respectively, with no cash payout.

BR Automobile Assembler Index increased by 158.89 points or 1.09 percent to close at 14,721.57 points with total turnover of 10.615 million shares.

BR Cement Index gained 49.26 points or 0.78 percent to close at 6,381.63 points with 11.980 million shares.

BR Commercial Banks Index surged by 194.4 points or 1.22 percent to close at 16,182.01 points with 39.684 million shares.

BR Power Generation and Distribution Index inched up by 78.01 points or 0.56 percent to close at 13,915.73 points with 66.915 million shares.

BR Oil and Gas Index closed at 5,955.85 points, up 26.11 points or 0.44 percent with 41.637 million shares.

BR Tech & Comm Index added 73.98 points or 1.98 percent to close at 3,813.51 points with 78.534 million shares.

Mohammed Waqar Iqbal at JS Global Capital said that political clarity and better financial results fueled the market momentum.

Traded volume stood at 453 million shares where KEL (up 1.1 percent), KOSM (down 0.4 percent), WTL (up 0.8 percent), PRL (up 4.0 percent) and CNERGY (up 4.5 percent) were the volume leaders.

Copyright Business Recorder, 2024