KSE-100 touches near 4-year high, gains 335 points

KARACHI: The Pakistan Stock Exchange (PSX)  shed the gloom of previous sessions on the last trading day of rollover week  (Friday) as the benchmark KSE-100 index rose 335 points, climbing to a near four-year high and surpassing the 47,000-point mark.

The index closed above 47,000 points for the first time since August 3, 2017, when it closed at 47,084. Bears and bulls kept on wrestling during the day and the latter managed to dominate most of the trading. The uptrend accelerated after trading resumed in the second session.

At close, the benchmark KSE-100 index recorded an increase of 335.54 points, or 0.72%, to settle at 47,126.29. Sectors contributing to the performance included banks (+98 points), exploration and production (+96 points), oil and gas marketing companies (+53 points), fertiliser (+39 points) and auto (+22 points).

Individually, stocks that contributed positively to the index included Bank AL Habib (+47 points), Systems Limited (+46 points), Pakistan Petroleum (+46 points), HBL (+39 points) and Oil and Gas Development Company (+35 points).

Stocks that contributed negatively were TRG Pakistan (-48 points), Adamjee Insurance (-11 points), DG Khan Cement (-8 points), Colgate-Palmolive (-7 points) and Searle (-5 points).

JS Global analyst Neelum Naz said that the market closed with a gain of 336 points at 47,126 – the highest level since 2017 – with 960 million shares changing hands during the day.

Nearly 40% of the total volume was contributed by WorldCall Telecom alone, a phenomenon that was prevalent throughout the week.