KARACHI: Pakistan Stock Exchange on Friday witnessed a bullish trend and hit another historic high on the back of local investors’ interest coupled with institutional support.
The benchmark KSE-100 Index surged by 810.19 points or 0.98 percent and crossed 83,000 psychological level for the first time in its history to close at highest-ever level of 83,531.96 points. The index hit 83,605.73 points intraday highest-ever level however closed at slightly lower level due to profit-taking in some stocks.
Trading activity also improved as daily volumes on ready counter increased to 381.529 million shares as compared to 319.879 million shares traded on Thursday. The daily traded value on the ready counter increased to Rs 20.523 billion against previous session’s Rs 16.414 billion.
BRIndex100 added 91.84 points or 1.05 percent to close at 8,824.85 points with total daily turnover of 321.640 million shares.
BRIndex30 increased by 548.71 points or 2.09 percent to close at 26,769.10 points with total daily trading volumes of 166.504 million shares.
Foreign investors however remained on the selling side and withdrew $7.663 million from the local equity market. The market capitalization increased by Rs 97 billion to Rs 10.879 trillion. Out of total 444 active scrips, 201 closed in positive and 167 in negative while the value of 76 stocks remained unchanged.
Pace (Pak) Limited was the volume leader with 59.298 million shares and gained Rs 0.88 to close at Rs 6.29 followed by PPL that increased by Rs 7.14 to close at Rs 118.60 with 21.636 million shares. Kohinoor Spining inched up by Rs 0.08 to close at Rs 8.12 with 19.496 million shares.
Hallmark Company and Sapphire Fibres were the top gainers increasing by Rs 91.85 and Rs 79.00 respectively to close at Rs 1,175.34 and Rs 1,349.00 while Unilever Pakistan Foods and ZIL Limited were the top losers declining by Rs 87.87 and Rs 16.80 respectively to close at Rs 17,412.13 and Rs 218.34.
An analyst at Topline Securities said the KSE-100 Index extended its gain where index increased by 810 points to close at 83,532 level (up by 0.98 percent).
This gain can be attributed to decline in yields in secondary market on government bills (T-Bill and PIB) and investor interest in the E&P sector following dispatch of PPL detailed financials to the exchange where key takeaway was that cash collection ratio of the company has improved to 81 percent in FY24 as compared to 53 percent in FY23 due to upward revision in gas prices.
Major positive contribution to the index came from PPL, OGDC, MEBL, LUCK and POL, as they cumulatively contributed plus 517 points to the index.
BR Automobile Assembler Index inched up by 12.19 points or 0.07 percent to close at 17,087.03 points with total turnover of 6.207 million shares.
BR Cement Index increased by 160.74 points or 1.97 percent to close at 8,316.95 points with 41.577 million shares.
BR Commercial Banks Index added 207.39 points or 0.89 percent to close at 23,591.55 points with 17.115 million shares.
BR Power Generation and Distribution Index soared by 148.08 points or 0.9 percent to close at 16,606.48 points with 26.521 million shares.
BR Oil and Gas Index surged by 220.41 points or 2.9 percent to close at 7,808.04 points with 46.083 million shares.
BR Tech. & Comm. Index gained 46.06 points or 1.2 percent to close at 3,895.79 points with 56.423 million shares.
Ahsan Mehanti at Arif Habib Corporation said stocks closed at historic high led by blue chip scrips across the board amid speculations in the earnings season and falling bank lending rates.
He said higher global crude oil prices, dismissal of mini budget on strong tax collections, improving Pak India relations, projections for over $27 billion SIFC projects and FX reserves soaring to $10.7 billion played a catalytic role in bullish close.
Copyright Business Recorder, 2024