Pakistan stocks gain 256 points on easing oil prices

KARACHI: Pakistan stocks gained 256 points on Wednesday owing to ease in oil prices in the international markets.

The benchmark KSE-100 index of Pakistan Stock Exchange (PSX) closed at 43,976 points as against previous day’s close of 43,720 points, showing an increase of 256 points.

Analysts at Topline Securities said that Pakistan equities witnessed a green day today as the KSE-100 index opened on a positive note and remained in the green zone throughout the trading hours.

This was due to opposition parties announced a couple of days delay in their protest at Islamabad, easing off on the global commodities prices front and news flow regarding dialogues between the Russia/Ukraine officials.

During the day, the benchmark index made an intraday high at 44,281 level (+561 points; up 1.2 per cent) before settling at 43,976 level.

Analysts at Arif Habib Limited said that green session was witnessed today due to decline in international commodity prices. Cement sector stayed in the green zone due to major drop in international coal prices.

Main board activity remained dull as investors remained cautious due to prevailing political noise. In the last trading hour, across the board buying was observed.

Sectors contributing to the performance include Technology (+87.7 points), Cement (+76.1 points), Banks (+42.6 points), Textile Composite (+18.5 points) and Power (+18.1 points).

Volumes increased from 189.0 million shares to 236.5 million shares (+25.1 per cent DoD). Traded value also increased by 23.6 per cent to reach US$ 32.3 million as against US$ 26.1 million.

Stocks that contributed significantly to the volumes include FLYINGR1, WTL, TREET, TPLP AND PAELR.