KARACHI:
The Pakistan Stock Exchange on Thursday extended gains in a roller coaster session and the KSE-100 index rose 231 points owing to investor focus on selected sectors.
Index-heavy automobile, financial and fertiliser sectors attracted modest investor interest and lifted the market upwards. Investor sentiment kept on fluctuating ahead of long holidays as fears of a rise in Covid-19 cases could hamper economic activity.
Trading began on a positive note, however, investors resorted to profit-booking in initial hours, which dragged the index down.
From this point onwards, the market traded in the negative zone, but a buying spree, emerging towards noon, tossed the index in the green zone and cherry-picking by investors helped the KSE-100 close with modest gains.
At close, the benchmark KSE-100 index recorded an increase of 231.06 points, or 0.51%, to settle at 45,174.67 points.
In its report, Arif Habib Limited stated that the market opened on a positive note and after sustaining a short dip of 54 points below last day’s close bounced back, closing the session on a strong note at +231 points.
Cement, fertiliser, refinery and technology stocks kept interest alive and despite a long vacation, investors took a long bet.
Trading volumes remained tilted towards off main board in WorldCall Telecom and Telecard Limited. However, regardless of the recent onslaught on TRG Pakistan and NetSol, buying activity pushed their stocks up, generating considerable interest, the report said.
JS Global analyst Neelum Naz said that the KSE-100 index closed in the positive zone (45,174) with a gain of 231 points.
Top contribution to total volumes came from WorldCall Telecom (+6.3%), TRG Pakistan (+2.1%), Telecard Limited (-0.3%), Unity Foods (+2.1%) and Ghani Global Holdings (+1.9%).
Apart from these, other major contributors to the index were banking sector stocks and IPP shares.
“Going forward, the outlook of the market will mainly depend on the Covid situation during holidays and if the government is able to curtail the positivity ratio,” the analyst said.
Overall trading volumes fell to 245.6 million shares compared with Wednesday’s tally of 259.9 million. The value of shares traded during the day was Rs9.5 billion.
Shares of 358 companies were traded. At the end of the day, 231 stocks closed higher, 110 declined and 17 remained unchanged.
WorldCall Telecom was the volume leader with 80.9 million shares, gaining Rs0.09 to close at Rs1.53. It was followed by TRG Pakistan with 14.8 million shares, gaining Rs3.39 to close at Rs165.75 and Telecard Limited with 12.8 million shares, losing Rs0.04 to close at Rs15.54.
Foreign institutional investors were net sellers of Rs5.4 million worth of shares during the trading session, according to data compiled by the National Clearing Company of Pakistan.
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