KARACHI: The share market witnessed an increase of 297 points on Wednesday due to trading activity seen in the banking sector following an unexpected rise in inflation.
The benchmark KSE-100 index of the Pakistan Stock Exchange (PSX) closed at 45,369 points as against the previous day’s closing of 45,072 points.
Analysts at Arif Habib Limited said that the KSE-100 index stayed in the green zone throughout the day as the market celebrated the transition from emerging to frontier market.
The index opened with a bullish momentum as traders took an aggressive bet on cement, steel, and technology stocks.
Later, accumulation was witnessed in the banking sector as CPI for the month of November 2021 clocked in at 11.53 per cent YoY (+3 per cent MoM), the highest inflation in 21 months influenced by a record hike in fuel prices.
In the last trading hour, a sharp upside was witnessed as short-sellers jumped into square-off trading positions.
Sectors contributing to the performance include Cement (+113 points), Commercial Banks (+85 points), Fertilizer (+32 points), E&P (+20 points) and Power (+16 points).
Volumes decreased from 411.5 million shares to 241.1 million shares (-41.4 per cent DoD). Traded value also decreased by 73.5 per cent to reach US$ 52.6 million as against US$ 198.4 million.
Stocks that contributed significantly to the volumes include FFL, FFLR1, TPLP, MLCF and TRG.
