PSX continues to surge for third consecutive day

KARACHI: The Pakistan Stock Exchange (PSX) ended the third day of the business week (Wednesday) on a positive note.

The benchmark KSE 100-index surged by 457.59 points and closed at 41.834.85 points. Indices that oscillated in both directions chose the upward direction closing day in the green.

Arif Habib Limited, in its report, stated that the market continued its bull-run and gained a total of 556 points during the session.

Stocks of cement, fertilizer, oil marketing and chemical sectors fared well with high trading volumes. Overall, the volumes hit a recent high of 836 million shares, the report added.

The technology sector led the volumes with trading in 114.5 million shares, followed by cement companies (86.9 million) and banks (81.3 million).

Individually stocks that contributed positively to the index included Engro (+38 points), UBL (+34 points), NBP (+31 points), Dawood Hercules (+28 points) and Engro Fertilisers (+26 points).

Stocks that contributed negatively were Hubco (-13 points), Shifa International Hospitals (-4 points), Meezan Bank (-3 points), FrieslandCampina Engro Pakistan (-3 points) and Highnoon Laboratories (-2 points).

JS Global analyst Maaz Mulla said the market was up and running and closed in the green zone for the third consecutive day. The benchmark index touched an intraday high of +555 points and closed at 41,835, up 457 points.

Traded value stood higher at $158 million, up 21% and volumes came in at 837 million shares, up 10%.

The cement sector continued its upward march where Kohat Cement (+2%), Cherat Cement (+2.3%), Pioneer Cement (+2.1%), Maple Leaf Cement (+1.3%) and DG Khan Cement (+1.1%) were the major movers.

The banking sector also enjoyed the rally where NBP (+7.5%), UBL (+2.5%), Bank Alfalah (+1.8%) and HBL (+0.5%) closed in the green zone.

Overall, trading volumes surged to 837 million shares compared with Tuesday’s tally of 759.4 million. The value of shares traded during the day was Rs26.2 billion.

Shares of 425 companies were traded. At the end of the day, 281 stocks closed higher, 130 declined and 14 remained unchanged.

K-Electric was the volume leader with 54 million shares, gaining Rs0.23 to close at Rs4.30. It was followed by PTCL with 48.7 million shares, gaining Rs0.88 to close at Rs10.54 and Pakistan International Bulk Terminal with 46.9 million shares, gaining Rs0.49 to close at Rs12.84.

Foreign institutional investors were net sellers of Rs493 million worth of shares during the trading session, according to data compiled by the National Clearing Company of Pakistan.