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KARACHI: Shares closed on the higher side on Thursday as investors resorted to value-hunting on a dip in prices.
Arif Habib Ltd said the upswing was in anticipation of positive outcomes from the ongoing negotiations between the government’s finance team and the International Monetary Fund.
The exploration and production sector remained in the limelight, pushing the index of representative shares of the stock market up to an intraday high of 273 points. The trading volume was also high across the board.
According to analyst Ahsan Mehanti, investors also took into account the upbeat data on the current account deficit, which fell to $400 million in December 2022 after shrinking 78 per cent on a year-on-year basis.
As a result, the KSE-100 index settled at 38,831.58 points, up 40.49 points or 0.1pc from the preceding session.
The overall trading volume increased 3.1pc to 157.8 million shares. The traded value went up 27.7pc to $28m on a day-on-day basis.
Stocks contributing significantly to the traded volume included Pakistan Petroleum Ltd (13.6m shares), TRG Pakistan Ltd (11m shares), Oil and Gas Development Company Ltd (10.9m shares), Sui Northern Gas Pipelines Ltd (9.1m shares) and Cnergyico PK Ltd (7.6m shares).
Sectors contributing the most to the index performance were exploration and production (116.9 points), technology and communication (60.1 points), oil marketing (26.1 points), chemical (11.8 points) and refinery (6.2 points).
Companies registering the biggest increases in their share prices in absolute terms were Bhanero Textile Mills Ltd (Rs75.69), Colgate-Palmolive Pakistan Ltd (Rs64), Pakistan Engineering Company Ltd (Rs19.47), the Thal Industries Corporation Ltd (Rs18.85) and JS Global Capital Ltd (Rs12.09).
Companies that recorded the biggest declines in their share prices in absolute terms were Rafhan Maize Products Company Ltd (Rs504.16), Nestle Pakistan Ltd (Rs48), Premium Textile Mills Ltd (Rs39.54), Indus Motor Company Ltd (Rs21.76) and Ismail Industries Ltd (Rs20).
Foreign investors were net buyers as they purchased shares worth $1.38m.
Published in Dawn, January 20th, 2023
