Stock market gains 204 points in mixed trading activities

Stock market gains 204 points in mixed trading activities

KARACHI: The stock market gained 204 points on Monday in mixed trading activities during the day.

The benchmark KSE-100 index of Pakistan Stock Exchange (PSX) closed at 33,862 points as against 33,657 points showing an increase of 204 points.

Analysts at Arif Habib Limited said that end of rollover week saw market activity picking pace with the benchmark index trading near 34,000 level after an initial jolt of 85 points earlier in the session.

At a time, market went up by 350 points (crossing 34k level briefly) and ended the session +204 points.

Cement sector performed well due to the news of deferment of axle load policy for a year, resulting in cement sector scrips trading at and near upper circuit, although recently announced financial results were poorer than expectation. Mainly fertilizer and banking sector scrips saw selling activity.

Cement sector led the volumes table with 22.7 million shares followed by Transport (15.1 million) and Engineering (14.4 million).

Among scrips, PIBTL led trading volumes with 12.7 million shares, followed by TRG (7.6 million) and FCCL (7 million).

Sectors contributing to the performance include Cement (+72 points), Banks (+66 points), O&GMCs (+32 points), Pharma (+17 points), Power (+15 points), E&P (-23 points) and Fertilizer (-20 points).

Volumes declined from 170.9 million shares to 135.5 million shares (-21 percent DoD). Average traded value, on the other hand, registered a slight increase of 2 percent DoD to reach US$ 26.3 million as against US$ 25.8 million.

Stocks that contributed significantly to the volumes include PIBTL, TRG, FCCL, HASCOL and UNITY, which formed 29 percent of total volumes.

Stocks that contributed positively include LUCK (+29 points), HBL (+27 points), BAHL (+21 points), PSO (+16 points) and FCCL (+14 points). Stocks that contributed negatively include FFC (-17 points), COLG (-12 points), MARI (-10 points), BAFL (-10 points), and PPL (-10 points).