KARACHI: Pakistan Stock Exchange on Wednesday made new history and closed on highest-ever level on the back of aggressive buying by local and foreign investors coupled with institutional support. The benchmark KSE-100 Index surged by 680.78 points or 0.86 percent and crossed 80,000 points psychological level to close at its highest-ever level of 80,233.67 points. The index hit 80,405.24 points intraday high, which was also highest ever intraday level.

Trading activity also improved further as total daily volumes on ready counter increased to 536.580 million shares as compared to 413.153 million shares traded on Tuesday while total daily traded value on the ready counter increased to Rs 22.722 billion against previous session’s Rs 16.597 billion.

BRIndex100 added 72.53 points or 0.86 percent to close at 8,501.07 points with total daily turnover of 439.001 million shares.

BRIndex30 increased by 457.29 points or 1.7 percent to close at 27,420.57 points with total daily trading volumes of 266.818 million shares.

Foreign investors also remained net buyers of shares worth $3.578 million. Total market capitalization increased by Rs 76 billion to Rs 10.593 trillion. Out of total 447 active scrips, 256 closed in positive and 135 in negative while the value of 56 stocks remained unchanged.

Pak Elektron was the volume leader with 34.586 million shares and increased by Rs 1.72 to close at Rs 26.75 followed by Bank of Punjab that gained Rs 0.37 to close at Rs 5.40 with 31.468 million shares. National Bank of Pakistan surged by Rs 2.89 and closed at Rs 44.33 with 21.224 million shares.

Nestle Pakistan and Philip Morris Pakistan were the top gainers increasing by Rs 129.41 and Rs 54.80 respectively to close at Rs 7,060.41 and Rs 663.71 while Unilever Pakistan Foods and Rafhan Maize Products Company were the top losers declining by Rs 134.99 and Rs 82.36 respectively to close at Rs 18,162.50 and Rs 7,517.64.

An analyst at Topline Securities said that the KSE-100 Index surpassed the 80,000 mark, making an intraday high of plus 852 points (up 1.07 percent) and closed at 80,233 points.

The Cement Sector maintained its positive momentum where KOHC, PIOC, LUCK, and MLCF saw positive growth. However, domestic cement sales dropped 4.6 percent to 38.18 million tonnes in FY24, while export dispatches surged by 56 percent to 7.11 million tonnes in FY24.

The Banking Sector attracted significant investor interest, with SBL, AKBL, NBP, HBL, and JSBL closing on a positive trajectory.

Key contributors to the positive index movement included HBL, POL, HUBC, NBP, and SYS, collectively adding 388 points. Conversely, FFC, EFERT, PAKT, FABL, and INIL collectively detracted 146 points from the index.

BR Automobile Assembler Index gained 37.62 points or 0.22 percent to close at 16,929.42 points with total turnover of 10.287 million shares.

BR Cement Index added 101.32 points or 1.3 percent to close at 7,867.60 points with 34.641 million shares.

BR Commercial Banks Index surged by 311.18 points or 1.38 percent to close at 22,798.74 points with 109.554 million shares.

BR Power Generation and Distribution Index increased by 245.7 points or 1.24 percent to close at 20,013.36 points with 24.234 million shares.

BR Oil and Gas Index soared by 126.83 points or 1.9 percent to close at 6,800.37 points with 39.281 million shares.

BR Tech. & Comm. Index inched up by 49.9 points or 1.26 percent to close at 4,011.24 points with 66.455 million shares.

Ahsan Mehanti at Arif Habib Corporation said stocks closed all-time high in the corporate earnings season at PSX amid upbeat data on $30.7 billion exports rising by 10.54 percent and trade deficit narrows by 12.3 percent to $24.09 billion in FY24.

He said the Government timelines for privatisation of SOEs, expectations for strong corporate payouts played a catalyst role for record close.

Copyright Business Recorder, 2024