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The Pakistan Stock Exchange's (PSX) benchmark KSE-100 Index made a sharp reversal Wednesday after opening markedly lower ahead of Thursday's much-awaited verdict on the Panamagate case.
The market plunged to its day's low of 46,048 points soon after trading commenced, before changing track and rebounding strongly to reach the day's high of 47,716 points by market close.
"KSE-100 witnessed its most volatile session (high/low spread of 3.54pc) since Nov 1, 2016 due to the Panamagate case verdict announcement due tomorrow," said a note issued by Topline Securities.
Topline noted that this was also the largest ever intraday point swing since the formation of the KSE-100 index.
"The market opened gap-down 1.5pc due to the initial panic and subsequently fell to a low of -1.8%. However, the market swiftly recovered as investors expect the decision tomorrow would likely not be against the government," it added.
KSE-100 volumes surged to 140.92 million shares, worth Rs11.98 billion. The total share volume rose to 265.68m, worth Rs15.28bn. In all, 91,330 trades were executed on the PSX.
"Strong quarter-end earnings announcements in oil, cement and industrials invited institutional support in early session pressure," said Arif Habib Corp analyst Ahsan Mehanti.
"International Monetary Fund optimism on Pakistan's economic growth forecast at 5pc, upbeat seasonal cotton production data and pre-budget speculation played a catalyst role in the record surge," he added.
364 symbols were traded on Wednesday, of which 209 advanced, 137 declined and 18 remained unchanged.
Power generation companies led volumes, followed by commercial banks, technology companies, engineering firms and chemical manufacturers.
Volumes were led by:
K-Electric Ltd: 22.41m shares traded (+3pc)
TRG Pak Ltd: 20m shares traded (+2.14pc)
Engro Polymer: 17.13m shares traded (2.23pc)
Bank of Punjab: 11.89m shares traded (1.82pc)
Aisha Steel Mill: 11.54m shares traded (-0.82pc)
