KARACHI: Pakistan Stock Exchange on Thursday witnessed bullish trend and hit new highest-ever levels on the back of fresh buying, mainly by local investors coupled with institutional support.
The benchmark KSE-100 Index surged by 499.05 points or 0.54 percent and closed at new highest-ever level of 92,520.49 points. The index hit 92,694.54 points intraday highest-ever level, however closed at slightly lower level due to profit-taking in some stocks.
Trading activity however remained low as daily volumes on ready counter decreased to 678.788 million shares as compared to 889.166 million shares traded on Wednesday. The daily traded value on the ready counter declined to Rs 24.827 billion against previous session’s Rs 30.474 billion.
BRIndex100 gained 41.79 points or 0.43 percent to close at 9,836.30 points with daily turnover of 555.455 million shares.
BRIndex30 increased by 353.34 points or 1.19 percent to close at 30,000.21 points with daily trading volumes of 345.841 million shares.
Foreign investors also remained net buyers of shares worth $111,444. The market capitalization increased by Rs 60 billion to Rs 11.876 trillion. Out of total 449 active scrips, 257 closed in positive and 145 in negative while the value of 47 stocks remained unchanged.
Bank of Punjab was the volume leader with 62.920 million shares and gained Rs 0.36 to close at Rs 6.57 followed by Kohinoor Spining that inched up by Rs 0.54 to close at Rs 7.83 with 46.527 million shares. K-Electric closed at Rs 4.80, up Rs 0.16 with 34.718 million shares.
Unilever Pakistan Foods and Hoechst Pakistan were the top gainers increasing by Rs 86.32 and Rs 48.07, respectively to close at Rs 18,986.99 and Rs 2,401.07 while Rafhan Maize Products Company and Bhanero Textile Mills were the top losers declining by Rs 101.45 and Rs 50.09 respectively to close at Rs 7,305.21 and Rs 782.05.
An analyst at Topline Securities said that the KSE-100 Index closed at 92,520, opening on a positive note and reaching an intraday high of 673 points, driven by the recent Ijara Sukuk auction where by the cut-off yield on one year Sukuk fell to 10.99 percent, signaling a potential yield decline across all tenors in the upcoming T-bills and PIBs auction.
Following the Prime Minister’s recent visit to Saudi Arabia, a delegation led by the power minister has been dispatched, with anticipated announcements of new Saudi investments, including Reko Diq as a likely flagship project. This development sparked investor interest in OGDC and PPL.
Leading the index surge were ENGRO, DAWH, OGDC, HUBC, and EFERT, collectively adding 475 points. In contrast, major laggards — SYS, HBL, MEBL, KOH, and CHCC — together subtracted 173 points.
BR Automobile Assembler Index increased by 145.23 points or 0.76 percent to close at 19,355.26 points with total turnover of 12.557 million shares.
BR Cement Index decreased by 78.61 points or 0.76 percent to close at 10,252.56 points with 71.289 million shares.
BR Commercial Banks Index gained 8.45 points or 0.03 percent to close at 24,890.53 points with 80.578 million shares.
BR Power Generation and Distribution Index surged by 227.86 points or 1.44 percent to close at 16,019.51 points with 53.211 million shares.
BR Oil and Gas Index added 61.22 points or 0.69 percent to close at 8,977.96 points with 58.743 million shares.
BR Tech. & Comm. Index lost 18.08 points or 0.39 percent to close at 4,559.37 points with 70.256 million shares.
Ahsan Mehanti at Arif Habib Corporation said stocks closed at new all-time high as investor eye ratings upgrade after FM assurance on macroeconomic stability and MSCI expected standard index weight revised at 4.4 percent from November 26 owing to outperformance and liquidity.
He said bull-run in global equities, falling lending rates, over $3.0 billion remittances in October 2024 and surging exports played a catalytic role in record bullish close a PSX.
Copyright Business Recorder, 2024