Benchmark index increases 322.79 points to settle at 33,762.48. PHOTO: AFP
During the day, the World Bank released the Ease of Doing Business 2020 report in which Pakistan's ranking improved 28 spots to the 108th place. The report bolstered investor confidence and sparked a buying spree at the bourse.
The World Bank report helped the KSE-100 index open on a positive note. It maintained the uptrend throughout the day. Gains, however, were partially erased by the end of the session as the excitement subsided by the day's end.
At close, the benchmark KSE 100-share Index recorded an increase of 322.79 points, or 0.97%, to settle at 33,762.48.
JS Global analyst Danish Ladhani said equities closed on a positive note with the KSE-100 index gaining 323 points and closing at 33,762.
"The market remained on the positive side but is expected to come under pressure in the short run due to ongoing developments regarding the opposition's Azadi March and tensions along the Pakistan-India border," he said.
In the exploration and production sector, Oil and Gas Development Company (+2.3%), Pakistan Petroleum (+1.6%) and Pakistan Oilfields (+3%) closed in the positive territory.
Big banks in the financial sector went up including HBL (+0.8%), MCB Bank (+1.3%) and UBL (+0.5%), which contributed to the market's positive close.
Moreover, Faysal Bank (+2.2%) and Bank AL Habib (+0.5%) announced their 9MCY19 consolidated earnings per share (EPS) of Rs2.90 and Rs6.30 respectively.
In the fertiliser sector, Engro (+1.2%) reported its 9MCY19 consolidated EPS of Rs22.61 against Rs17.27 with cash payout of Rs8 per share.
Among cement stocks, Maple Leaf Cement (-3.2%) reported 1QFY20 consolidated loss per share of Rs1.65 against EPS of Rs0.99 in the same period of last year.
Traded value stood at $26 million, up 11% and volumes came in at 121 million shares, up 4%. Major contribution to the total market volume came from WorldCall Telecom, Lotte Chemical, TRG Pakistan and Fauji Cement.
"Moving ahead, we expect the market to remain choppy due to developments on the political front," the analyst said.
Arif Habib Limited, in its report, stated Thursday's activity at the bourse was more of a déjà vu. "A similar performance was witnessed on Wednesday, however, the 800-point loss which the market saw on Monday (on the back of FATF news) was largely recovered in the past two sessions," he said.
Cement, steel, oil marketing, exploration and production and financial sectors contributed to the positive sentiment, although the cement industry saw poor financial results of Maple Leaf Cement.
Investors seemingly had a firm view that the interest rate would be pushed down in the monetary policy announcement in November by the State Bank of Pakistan and the same was evident from Wednesday's treasury bills auction that saw a further inversion of the yield curve in short-term instruments.
The technology sector led the volumes with trading in 24.6 million shares, followed by the engineering sector (16.1 million) and cement sector (14.5 million), the report added.
Overall, trading volumes increased to 121.3 million shares compared with Wednesday's tally of 116.9 million. The value of shares traded during the day was Rs3.98 billion.
Shares of 353 companies were traded. At the end of the day, 214 stocks closed higher, 115 declined and 24 remained unchanged.
WorldCall Telecom was the volume leader with 17.2 million shares, gaining Rs0.01 to close at Rs1.02. It was followed by Dost Steels with 5.4 million shares, gaining Rs0.51 to close at Rs5.32 and Lotte Chemical with 5.1 million shares, gaining Rs0.05 to close at Rs16.29.
Foreign institutional investors were net buyers of Rs166.45 million worth of shares during the trading session, according to data compiled by the National Clearing Company of Pakistan.
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