KARACHI: The Pakistan Stock Exchange (PSX) witnessed a positive momentum on Wednesday as investors opted for value hunting.

The energy exploration and production sector remained in the limelight following the rumours circulating about the likely resolution of the circular debt issue, said Arif Habib Ltd.

Investors’ participation remained healthy as hefty volumes were witnessed in the main board as well as third-tier stocks.

Analyst Ahsan Mehanti said stocks remained bullish on the strong recovery in the rupee and the finance minister’s statement regarding the United Arab Emirates investing $1 billion in Pakistan through the PSX.

Receipts of $4.79bn under the Roshan Digital Accounts and the likely inflow of $1.5bn from Asian Develop­ment Bank also played the role of a catalyst in the bullish activity, he added.

As a result, the KSE-100 index settled at 42,494.85 points, up 398.61 points or 0.95pc from a day ago.

The trading volume decreased 8.2pc to 373.2 million shares while the traded value went up 13.7pc to $59.6m on a day-on-day basis.

Stocks contributing significantly to the traded volume included Cnergyico PK Ltd (33.74m shares), Pak­istan Refinery Ltd (27.68m shares), TPL Properties Ltd (24.22m shares), Lotte Chemical Ltd (17.94m shares) and WorldCall Telecom Ltd (15.75m shares).

Sectors contributing to the index performance included banking (156.4 points), exploration and production (108 points), fertiliser (56.1 points), power (55 points) and technology (42.7 points).

Top advancers in percentage terms were Tri-Star Mutual Fund (21.25pc), Trust Modaraba (20.5pc), Pak-Gulf Leasing Company Ltd (19.57pc), First Tri-Star Modaraba (14.07pc) and Premier Insurance Ltd (9.53pc).

Top decliners in percentage terms were Masood Textile Mills Ltd (7.49pc), Sindh Abadgars Sugar Mills Ltd (7.48pc), Pakistan Services Ltd (7.47pc), Sapphire Textile Mills Ltd (7.45pc) and Bawany Air Products Ltd (7.11pc).

Foreign investors were net sellers as they offloaded shares worth $1.62m.

“Moving forward, we recommend investors should adopt a buy-on-dip strategy in banking, exploration and production and cement stocks,” said JS Global.

Published in Dawn, August 11th, 2022

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