Pakistan Stock Exchange (PSX) managed to break the psychological barrier of 42,000 points on Wednesday amid AKFED’s intention to purchase HBL shares and LUCK’s buyback, with the benchmark KSE-100 Index gaining 160.29 points (+0.38 percent) to close at 42,087.93 points.
The market opened on a sharp positive note, toeing previous sessions’ bullish momentum and remained in green for most of the day despite political instability and economic slowdown. However, profit-taking activity was witnessed and the market took a dip but it recovered soon and turned to positive again. The indices remained volatile during the last half an hour trading; however, the benchmark index managed to close above 42,000 level. Around 23.53 million shares of HBL and 2.45 million shares of Luck were traded during the session. The Aga Khan Fund for Economic Development (AKFED) intends to purchase HBL shares.
The KSE-100 Index moved in a range of 255.87 points, showing an intraday high of 42,171.68 and a low of 41,915.81 points. Among other indices, the KSE All Share Index gained 123.86 points (+0.45 percent) to close at 27,769.64 points, while KMI All Share Islamic Index gained 152.29 points (+0.77 percent) to close at 20,049.97 points.
A total of 380 companies traded shares in the stock exchange. Out of traded companies, shares of 163 closed up, shares of 192 closed down while shares of 25 companies remained unchanged. A total of 97 companies traded shares in the KSE-100 Index, out of which 47 closed up, 48 closed down and two remained unchanged.
The overall market volumes remained 287.75 million shares. Total volumes traded for the KSE-100 Index remained 135.52 million. The number of total trades increased by 13,353 to 113,758, while the value traded increased by Rs3.68 billion to Rs10.18 billion. Overall market capitalisation increased by Rs27.95 billion.
Among scrips, WTL topped the volumes with 55.3 million shares, followed by HBL (23.53 million) and MLCF (16.46 million). Stocks that contributed significantly to the volumes included WTL, HBL, MLCF, TPLP and FFL, which formed around 42 percent of total volumes.
In terms of rupee, UPFL remained the top gainer and witnessed an increase of Rs1,537.5 (+7.46 percent) per share, closing at Rs22,137.5. The runner-up remained BHAT, the share price of which climbed up by Rs69.03 (+7.5 percent) to Rs989.55. SAPT remained the top loser in terms of rupee and witnessed a decrease of Rs74.06 (-6.3 percent) per share, closing at Rs1,100.94, followed by SFL, the share price of which fell by Rs50 (-4.76 percent) to close at Rs1,000 per share.
The sectors taking the index towards north were cement (139 points), paper & board (22 points), oil & gas exploration companies (17 points), food & personal care products (11 points) and oil & gas marketing companies (10 points). The most points added to the index were by LUCK (82 points), PKGS and CHCC (22 points each), and OGDC and PIOC (17 points each).
The sectors taking the index towards south were technology & communication (60 points), insurance (10 points), automobile assembler (9 points), refinery (5 points) and automobile parts & accessories (4 points). The most points taken off the index were by SYS (49 points), EFUG (12 points), TRG (9 points), BAHL (7 points) and MEBL (6 points).