PSX extends gains by 414 points to recapture 62k level

KARACHI
Pakistan Stock Exchange (PSX) consolidated previous day’s gains in another low-volume session on Thursday, with the benchmark KSE-100 Index gaining 414.55 points (+0.67 percent) to close at 62,393.73 points.
The market opened on a positive note but turned towards the green in the next couple of hours. The market remained lacklustre for most part of the session; however, excessive buying in the last hour added around 500 points to the benchmark index. A positive shift occurred in the market, propelled by the majority of companies reporting a substantial surge in profits. However, the recent inflation figures showed that the consumer price index (CPI) for the month of January 2024 clocked in at 28.34 percent year-on-year, hotter than what the market anticipated.
In a related development, the PSX conducted the KSE-30 Index re-composition exercise for the review period from July 01, 2023 to December 31, 2023 and made six adjustments. The incoming companies are NRL, SHEL, PRL, COLG, SEARL and TPLP. The outgoing companies included APL, AVN, EPCL, FCCL, KAPCO, and PIOC. The above changes in the KSE-30 Index will take effect from March 15, 2024.
The benchmark index traded in a range of 715.54 points, showing an intraday high of 62,480.23 points and an intraday low of 61,764.69 points. Among other indices, the KSE All Share Index gained 209.46 points (+0.50 percent) to close at 42,102.13 points. Similarly, the KMI All Share Islamic Index gained 311.84 points (+1.02 percent) to close at 30,601.61 points. Total volumes traded for the KSE-100 Index decreased by 14.77 million to 138.79 million shares against 153.56 million shares in the previous session. Similarly, the overall market volumes decreased by 5.92 million shares to 270.54 million shares against 276.46 million shares traded a session earlier.
Among scrips, KEL topped the volumes with 33.97 million shares, followed by SNBL (28.11 million) and PRL (26.13 million). Stocks that contributed significantly to the volumes included KEL, SNBL, PRL, PPL, and PIAA, which formed around 47 percent of total volumes.
A total of 345 companies traded shares in the stock exchange against 347 in the previous session, out of which shares of 165 closed up, shares of 154 companies closed down while shares of 26 companies remained unchanged. A total of 95 companies traded shares in the KSE-100 Index against 93 companies in the previous session, out of which share prices of 56 companies closed up, 36 companies closed down and three remained unchanged.
The number of total trades decreased to 130,232 from 130,829 a session earlier, while the value traded increased by Rs2.36 billion to Rs11.63 billion from Rs9.27 billion a session earlier.
In terms of rupee, MARI remained the top gainer with an increase of Rs68.41 (+3.03 percent) per share, closing at Rs2,328.14. The runner-up remained PMPK, the share price of which climbed up by Rs38.01 (+6.13 percent) to Rs658. RMPL remained the top loser with a decrease of Rs550 (-5.98 percent) per share, closing at Rs8,650, followed by ISIL, the share price of which fell by Rs93 (-7.44 percent) to close at Rs1,157 per share.
The major sectors taking the index towards north remained oil & gas exploration companies (282 points), commercial banks (105 points), refinery (27 points), pharmaceutical (24 points), fertilizer (15 points), technology and communication (14 points), automobile assemblers and oil & gas marketing companies (13 points each), textile composite (11 points) and chemicals (6 points).
Ten major companies adding points to the index remained OGDC (105 points), MEBL (35 points), MARI (32 points), PPL (20 points), ENGRO (19 points), MTL (16 points), ATRL and BAFL (10 points each), MCB (8 points), and HINOON (6 points).
The major sectors depriving the index of points remained tobacco (29 points), cement (16 points), power generation and distribution (15 points), engineering (10 points), and food and personal care products (4 points).
Ten major companies depriving the index of points remained EFERT (17 points), PAKT (16 points), BAHL (13 points), LUCK (10 points), INDU (8 points), RMPL and HCAR (7 points each), ISIL and HUBC (5 points each) and MUGHAL (3 points).