KARACHI: Bulls extended their control on the Pakistan Stock Exchange (PSX) on Tuesday, with the benchmark index accumulating gains all day long ahead of earnings season.
Investors opted to make fresh investments in stocks that had fallen to attractive valuations due to the last week’s bear run.
The market players cheered the relief package announced by the government, under which the price of petrol and diesel was slashed by Rs10 per litre and electricity prices were reduced by Rs5 per unit.
The benchmark KSE-100 index remained in the green for almost the entire session, registering its intraday high at 45,016.65 after gaining 555.64 points. It settled higher by 342.57 points at 44,803.58.
Sectors contributing to the performance included exploration and production (+145.8 points), technology (+100.6 points), chemicals (+34.7 points), power (+20.6 points) and banks (+16.1 points).
Shares of 364 companies were traded during the session. At the close of trading, 226 scrips closed in the green, 117 in the red, and 21 remained unchanged.
Overall trading volumes rose to 309.34 million shares compared with Monday’s tally of 208.12 million. The value of shares traded during the day was Rs10.44 billion.
WorldCall Telecom Limited was the volume leader with 29.89 million shares traded, gaining Rs0.13 to close at Rs1.96. It was followed by TPL Properties with 19.15 million shares traded, gaining Rs0.62 to close at Rs18.32, and TRG Pakistan with 18.32 million shares traded, gaining Rs5.19 to close at Rs74.43.
