KARACHI: Pakistan Stock Exchange on Friday made new history and hit highest ever levels on investors strong interest due to their expectations over new IMF programme, $10 billion investment from UAE and more foreign inflows in the country.
The benchmark KSE-100 Index surged by 868.56 points or 1.16 percent and closed at highest-ever level of 75,983.04 points. During the session, the index crossed 76,000 level for the first time in its history to hit 76,248.76 points highest-ever intra-day level, however closed slightly below this level due to profit-taking in some stocks.
The daily trading volumes on ready counter stood at 609.848 million shares as compared to 758.944 million shares traded on Thursday. The daily traded value on the ready counter increased to Rs 23.580 billion against previous session’s Rs 16.708 billion.
BRIndex100 soared by 103.52 points or 1.32 percent to close at 7,940.63 points with total daily turnover of 541.511 million shares.
BRIndex30 increased by 196.0 points or 0.77 percent to close at 25,647.78 points with total daily trading volumes of 348.875 million shares.
Foreign investors also remained net buyers of shares worth $1.821 million. The market capitalization increased by Rs 94 billion to Rs 10.248 trillion. Out of total 383 active scrips, 215 closed in positive and 145 in negative while the value of 23 stocks remained unchanged.
K-Electric was the volume leader with 130.069 million shares however lost Rs 0.03 to close at Rs 5.21 followed by WorldCall Telecom that inched down by Rs 0.03 to close at Rs 1.42 with 50.574 million shares. Dewan Cement gained Rs 0.66 to close at Rs 10.91 with 28.324 million shares.
Hoechst Pakistan and Mari Petroleum Company were the top gainers increasing by Rs 102.72 and Rs 49.66 respectively to close at Rs 1,472.50 and Rs 2,836.07 while Shahmurad Sugar Mills and Rafhan Maize Products Company were the top losers declining by Rs 32.07 and Rs 30.00 respectively to close at Rs 567.84 and Rs 7,970.00.
An analyst at Topline Securities said that positive session was observed and this positivity in market can be attributed to statement by IMF that Pakistan authorities and IMF have made significant progress towards reaching staff level agreement.
Major positive contribution to the index came from UBL, MCB, MEBL, HUBC and EFERT, as they cumulatively contributed plus 414 points to the index.
BR Automobile Assembler Index increased by 278.9 points or 1.72 percent to close at 16,472.04 points with total turnover of 20.585 million shares.
BR Cement Index gained 63.84 points or 0.85 percent to close at 7,557.87 points with 48.880 million shares.
BR Commercial Banks Index surged by 401.51 points or 2.0 percent to close at 20,435.64 points with 39.987 million shares.
BR Power Generation and Distribution Index soared by 250.75 points or 1.42 percent to close at 17,865.28 points with 155.549 million shares.
BR Oil and Gas Index added 47.93 points or 0.7 percent to close at 6,856.20 points with 26.901 million shares.
BR Tech. & Comm. Index inched up by 11.96 points or 0.3 percent to close at 3,994.25 points with 116.185 million shares.
Ahsan Mehanti at Arif Habib Corporation said stocks closed all-time high in the pre-budget rally at PSX led by scrips across the board after UAE pledged to invest $10 billion in multiple sectors and stable rupee amid surging the SBP forex reserves.
He said expectations for ease in the SBP policy rates next month, The government deliberation on privatisation of SOEs and foreign inflows played catalyst role in record close.
Copyright Business Recorder, 2024