KARACHI: Pakistan Stock Exchange on Monday witnessed a bullish trend and closed on strong positive note with healthy gains due to reviving strong interest of investors following a reduction in political uncertainty after approval of 26th Constitutional Amendment Bill by the parliament.

The benchmark KSE-100 Index surged by 807.42 points or 0.95 percent and crossed 86,000 psychological level to close at 86,057.52 points. During the session, the index hit 86,172.79 points intra-day high, however closed at lower level due to profit taking in some stocks.

Trading activity also improved as total daily volumes on ready counter increased to 474.949 million shares as compared to 323.919 million shares traded on last Friday while total daily traded value on the ready counter increased to Rs 19.659 billion against previous session’s Rs 15.679 billion.

BRIndex100 soared by 110.45 points or 1.21 percent to close at 9,207.47 points with total daily turnover of 400.325 million shares.

BRIndex30 increased by 367.64 points or 1.35 percent to close at 27,560.28 points with total daily trading volumes of 266.254 million shares.

Foreign investors however remained net sellers of shares worth $734,907. Total market capitalization increased by Rs 113 billion to Rs 11.290 trillion. Out of total 445 active scrips, 269 closed in positive and 124 in negative while the value of 52 stocks remained unchanged.

Kohinoor Spining was the volume leader with 59.101 million shares and gained Rs 0.94 to close at Rs 8.18 followed by Pak. Int. Bulk Terminal that inched up by Rs 0.41 to close at Rs 7.05 with 27.872 million shares. Flying Cement increased by Rs 1.79 to close at Rs 19.80 with 18.493 million shares.

Unilever Pakistan Foods and Hoechst Pakistan were the top gainers increasing by Rs 212.49 and Rs 127.77 respectively to close at Rs 17,740.64 and Rs 2,346.90 while Hallmark Company and Pakistan Tobacco Company were the top losers declining by Rs 46.43 and Rs 37.02 respectively to close at Rs 800.18 and Rs 1,159.80.

An analyst at Topline Securities said that the session exhibited positive momentum following a reduction in political uncertainty, highlighted by the Senate’s approval of the 26th Constitutional Amendment Bill 2024, which passed with a two-thirds majority on Sunday evening. Subsequently, the National Assembly also ratified this contentious legislation.

Key contributors to the index included MTL, UBL, ATRL, HUBC, and PIOC, which collectively added 274 points.

BR Automobile Assembler Index surged by 521.86 points or 3.0 percent to close at 17,903.27 points with total turnover of 6.716 million shares.

BR Cement Index increased by 189.24 points or 2.29 percent to close at 8,452.18 points with 45.535 million shares.

BR Commercial Banks Index gained 126.16 points or 0.52 percent to close at 24,494.34 points with 26.789 million shares.

BR Power Generation and Distribution Index soared by 165.02 points or 1.13 percent to close at 14,743.45 points with 35.877 million shares.

BR Oil and Gas Index inched up by 54.13 points or 0.65 percent to close at 8,362.22 points with 14.069 million shares.

BR Tech. & Comm. Index added 40.14 points or 1.02 percent to close at 3,993.61 points with 66.119 million shares.

Ahsan Mehanti at Arif Habib Corporation said stocks showed sharp recovery in the early session led by scrips across the board after NA passed constitutional amendments ending political uncertainty.

He said speculations in the earnings season and easing lending rates played a catalyst role in bullish activity at PSX.

Copyright Business Recorder, 2024