A bullish trend was witnessed on the Pakistan Stock Exchange (PSX) Monday. Fresh buying was witnessed in bluechips mainly by local investors. The benchmark KSE-100 index surged by 438.81 points and closed at 40,220.76 points. Foreign investors remained net sellers of shares withdrawing another $143,415 from the stock market. Trading activity remained low due to absence of retail investors and the daily trading volumes stood at 484.014 million shares as compared to 505.803 million shares traded on previous session.
Total market capitalisation increased by Rs 49 billion to Rs 8.149 trillion. Out of total 438 shares, 317 closed in positive, 102 in negative while the value of 19 shares remained unchanged. Bank of Punjab was the volume leader with 37.399 million shares increasing by Re 1.00 to close at Rs 12.41 followed by Pace (Pak) Limited that surged by Rs 0.53 to close at Rs 11.67 with 37.152 million shares. WorldCall Telecom gained Rs 0.24 to close at Rs 3.09 with 35.209 million shares.
Sanofi-Aventis and Atlas Battery were the top gainers with Rs 49.62 and Rs 38.01, respectively to close at Rs 1042.05 and Rs 817.98. Philip Morris Pak and Ismail Industries were the top losers with Rs 79.23 and Rs 17.97, respectively to close at Rs 1505.39 and Rs 425.13.
Ahsan Mehanti at Arif Habib Corporation said stocks closed bullish led by bluechip scrips across the board on strong valuation. Trade remained high in second- and third-tier stocks. Foreign inflows, recovery in global crude prices, SBP status quo in the policy announcement on September 24, 2016 and easing Pakistan-India tensions played a catalytic role in bullish session at PSX.
Nabeel Haroon, an analyst at JS Global Capital said positivity prevailed in the stock market as the index rallied around 439 points. Investors interest was seen in textile sector, as NML NCL and GATM gained to close on their respective upper circuits. UBL and MCB led the gains in the banking sector, as the sector gained to close higher from its previous sessions close. DCL closed on its upper circuit for second consecutive day, as the company in its material information, disseminated in the market, announced that it has allowed strategic Chinese investor to carry out due diligence process of the company. Mughal lost value to close in the red zone, as the steel manufacturer declared its result for FY16. The company announced EPS of Rs 7.10 along with a final cash dividend of Rs 3.00 per share.