Stock market gains 399 points on positive vibes from FATF session

Stock market gains 399 points on positive vibes from FATF session

KARACHI: The stock exchange gained 399 points on Wednesday owing to positive vibes from ongoing FATF plenary session, analysts said.

The benchmark KSE-100 index of Pakistan Stock Exchange (PSX) closed at 40,574 points as against 40,735 points showing an increase of 399 points.

Analysts at Arif Habib Limited said that the market moved up today by 469 points during the session and closed +399 points.

Trading volumes also improved over the day, which took cue from positive signals from ongoing FATF plenary session, expectation of tamed inflation for the month of February and higher crude oil prices that helped OGDC stage recovery from last week’s levels.

The whole oil chain including E&P, OMCs and Refineries moved inline and showed buying interest from Investors. Similarly, Cement sector also saw buying activity that propped up stock prices, particularly DGKC, which traded near upper circuit.

Cement sector led the trading volumes with 24.1 million shares, followed by Vanaspati (21.6 million) and Technology (15.6 million). Among scrips, UNITY topped with 13.4 million shares, followed by HBL (5.4 million) and PSO (4.6 million).

Sectors contributing to the performance include Banks (+73 points), E&P (+73 points), Cement (+51 points), Fertilizer (+39 points) and Power (+32 points).

Volumes improved from 91.6 million shares to 142.9 million shares (+56 percent DoD). Average traded value also increased by 33 percent to reach US$ 42.2 million as against US$ 31.6 million.

Stocks that contributed significantly to the volumes include UNITY, HASCOL, DGKC, MLCF and TRG, which formed 38 percent of total volumes.

Stocks that contributed positively include OGDC (+50 points), UBL (+42 points), HUBC (+34 points), MCB (+32 points) and PPL (+22 points). Stocks that contributed negatively include HBL (-32 points), JLICL (-6 points), BAHL (-6 points), INDU (-5 points), and AGP (-4 points).