Stock market gains 465 points on buying activities

Stock market gains 465 points on buying activities

KARACHI: The stock market gained 465 points on Thursday as buying activities remained dominant during the day on positive sentiments.

The benchmark KSE-100 index of Pakistan Stock Exchange (PSX) closed at 35,403 points as against 34,660 points showing an increase of 465 points.

Sectors contributing to the performance include Fertilizer (+110 points), Banks (+86 points), Cement (+72 points), Power (+54 points), O&GMCs (+30 points).

Analysts at Arif Habib Limited said that the market opened on a negative note, however, buying activity commenced soon with major activity in Cement and Chemicals.

Pharma scrips also hit upper circuit in early trading and similar trend was seen in Fertilizer and Chemicals.

ENGRO remained prominent in today’s trading. During the session, increase in rupee: USD parity gave a cause of concern to investors, however, buying activity remained dominant.

By the end of session, majority of Cement sector scrips hit upper circuit. Major volumes were observed in Cement (29.5M), followed by Chemical (+17.7M) and Technology (17M). Scrip wise activity reflects MLCF topping the chart with 12.5M shares, followed by BOP (10.4M) and TRG (+9.4M).

Volumes increased from 150.9 million shares to 154.3 million shares (+2 percent DoD). Average traded value, however, increased by 14 percent to reach US$ 36.8 million as against US$ 32.5 million.

Stocks that contributed significantly to the volumes include MLCF, BOP, TRG, KEL and PAEL, which formed 31 percent of total volumes.

Stocks that contributed positively include HUBC (+43 points), ENGRO (+39 points), EFERT (+37 points), LUCK (+32 points) and MCB (+22 points). Stocks that contributed negatively include IGIHL (-7 points), PSMC (-6 points), JLICL (-5 points), EFUG (-4 points) and AKBL (-3 points).