KARACHI: Share prices rose on Tuesday as investors reacted positively to favourable announcements by blue-chip companies.

Topline Securities said the benchmark of the stock market closed on the higher side after Lucky Cement Ltd and the sponsor of Habib Bank Ltd announced they’d purchase their respective shares from the open market. Both stocks closed at their respective upper circuits. The investors’ interest was also witnessed in United Bank Ltd, Engro Corporation Ltd, Dawood Hercules Corporation Ltd and Packages Ltd.

Arif Habib Ltd said optimism prevailed throughout the trading session, pushing the benchmark to an intraday high of 409.30 points.

As a result, the KSE-100 index settled at 41,927.64 points, up 346.79 points or 0.83 per cent from the preceding session.

The overall trading volume decreased 17.9pc to 220 million shares. The traded value went down 27.7pc to $22.9m on a day-on-day basis.

Stocks contributing significantly to the traded volume included Fauji Foods Ltd (22.6m shares), Silkbank Ltd (15.6m shares), Maple Leaf Cement Factory Ltd (8.7m shares), TPL Properties Ltd (8.5m shares) and OLP Financial Services Pakistan Ltd (7.7m shares).

Sectors contributing the most to the index performance were commercial banking (207.2 points), cement (122.1 points), fertiliser (49.5 points), investment banking (23.4 points) and paper and board (19.4 points).

Companies registering the biggest increases in their share prices in absolute terms were Unilever Pakistan Foods Ltd (Rs1,300), Lucky Cement Ltd (Rs30.08), Khyber Tobacco Company Ltd (Rs29.62), Gatron Industries Ltd (Rs22.77) and Lucky Core Industries Ltd (Rs21.79).

Companies that recorded the biggest declines in their share prices in absolute terms were Bata Pakistan Ltd (Rs78.43), JDW Sugar Mills Ltd (Rs26.85), the Premier Sugar Mills Ltd (Rs25), Towellers Ltd (Rs14.33) and Nestle Pakistan Ltd (Rs14.32).

Foreign investors were net sellers as they offloaded shares worth $0.05m.

Published in Dawn, May 3rd, 2023