KARACHI: The stock market gained 323 points on Thursday as investors confident on ease of interest rate in upcoming policy announcement.
The benchmark KSE-100 index of Pakistan Stock Exchange (PSX) closed at 33,72 points as against 33,440 points showing an increase of 323 points.
Analysts at Arif Habib Limited said that today’s activity at the bourse was more of a déjà vu.
Similar performance was witnessed yesterday, however, on the whole the 800 points loss that market saw on Monday (on the back of FATF news) was largely recovered in the past 2 sessions.
Cement, Steel, OMCs, E&P and Banks contributed to the positive sentiments, although Cement sector braced poorer than expected financial results of MLCF.
Overall, the benchmark index saw an increase of 423 points, ending the session +323 points (unadjusted). Investors seemingly had firm view on decline in interest rates, expected to be announced in November by SBP, and the same was evident from yesterday’s t-bill auction that saw further inversion of yield curve in short tenor instruments.
Technology sector led the volumes with 24.6 million shares, followed by Engineering (16.1 million) and Cement (14.5 million).
Among scrips, WTL realized 17.2 million shares in trading volumes, followed by DSL (5.4 million) and LOTCHEM (5.1 million).
Sectors contributing to the performance include E&P (+115 points), Banks (+78 points), Fertilizer (+38 points), O&GMCs (+26 points) and Food (+19 points).
Volumes increased from 116.9 million shares to 121.2 million shares (+4 percent DoD). Average traded value also increased by 11 percent to reach US$ 25.5 million from US$ 23 million.
Stocks that contributed significantly to the volumes include WTL, DSL, LOTCHEM, TRG and FCCL, which formed 31 percent of total volumes.
Stocks that contributed positively include OGDC (+41 points), POL (+32 points), PPL (+27 points), ENGRO (+24 points) and MCB (+20 points).
Stocks that contributed negatively include MTL (-6 points), FATIMA (-4 points), LUCK (-3 points), MLCF (-3 points), and FML (-3 points).
