KARACHI: The business week ended on the Pakistan Stock Exchange on a bullish note even though investors’ engagement remained relatively low owing to the weekend factor.
Arif Habib Ltd said the index of representative shares fluctuated before the bulls became active in the post-prayer session, pushing up the index as well as the trading volume.
Investors added value to their portfolios by cherry-picking stocks with strong fundamentals. Shares belonging to the cement and banking sectors hogged the limelight.
Another factor driving the positive momentum on the stock exchange was the press coverage on the likely outcome of the overdue review of the International Monetary Fund loan programme.
As a result, the KSE-100 index settled at 42,241.98 points, up 148.18 points or 0.35 per cent from the preceding session.
The overall trading volume decreased 30.2pc to 178.2 million shares. The traded value went down 37.7pc to $20.3m on a day-on-day basis.
Stocks contributing significantly to the traded volume included WorldCall Telecom Ltd (17m shares), Sui Northern Gas Pipelines Ltd (13.6m shares), TPL Properties Ltd (9.6m shares), Bank Alfalah Ltd (8.8m shares) and Air Link Communication Ltd (7.6m shares).
Sectors contributing the most to the index performance were commercial banking (56.6 points), power generation and distribution (56 points), fertiliser (28 points), exploration and production (24.7 points) and oil marketing (18.9 points).
Companies registering the biggest increases in their share prices in absolute terms were Nestle Pakistan Ltd (Rs208.62), Bhanero Textile Mills Ltd (Rs79.74), Sapphire Textile Mills Ltd (Rs49.05), Khyber Textile Mills Ltd (Rs36.62) and Shield Corporation Ltd (Rs22).
Companies that recorded the biggest declines in their share prices in absolute terms were Rafhan Maize Products Company Ltd (Rs192.50), Pakistan Tobacco Company Ltd (Rs24.30), JS Global Capital Company Ltd (Rs20.40), Murree Brewery Company Ltd (Rs17.19) and Hinopak Motors Ltd (Rs10.55).
Foreign investors were net sellers as they offloaded shares worth $0.25m.
Published in Dawn, May 6th, 2023
