KARACHI: Following successive sessions of rising share prices that took the benchmark index to its two-year high a day ago, the Pakistan Stock Exchange (PSX) witnessed some consolidation on Tuesday.
Topline Securities said trading commenced on a strong note that pushed the KSE-100 index to an intraday high of 407 points or 0.85 per cent. The reason for the positive sentiment was the status quo in the key interest rate announced by the Monetary Policy Committee of the State Bank of Pakistan a day ago.
However, investors resorted to profit-taking in the latter half of the trading session, pulling down the index from its intraday high. Arif Habib Ltd said the stock market is “heavy” and needs to consolidate before the upside can resume.
As a result, the KSE-100 index settled at 48,230.51 points, up 195.91 points or 0.41pc from the preceding session.
The overall trading volume on Monday increased 13.2pc to 556.9 million shares. The traded value decreased 10.8pc to Rs15.9bn on a day-on-day basis.
Stocks contributing significantly to the traded volume included Telecard Ltd (39.6m shares), Cnergyico PK Ltd (37.85m shares), WorldCall Telecom Ltd (33.2m shares), Pakistan Refinery Ltd (31.7m shares) and K-Electric Ltd (27.6m shares).
Companies registering the biggest increases in their share prices in absolute terms were Rafhan Maize Products Company Ltd (Rs147.97), Nestle Pakistan Ltd (Rs50), Pakistan Tobacco Company Ltd (Rs49.78), Mari Petroleum Company Ltd (Rs31.68) and Philip Morris Pakistan Ltd (Rs27.50).
Companies that recorded the biggest declines in their share prices in absolute terms were Colgate-Palmolive Pakistan Ltd (Rs79.34), Khyber Textile Mills Ltd (Rs67.57), Bata Pakistan Ltd (Rs40), Al-Abbas Sugar Mills Ltd (Rs27) and Mehmood Textile Mills Ltd (Rs27).
Foreign investors were net buyers as they purchased shares worth $1.36m.
Published in Dawn, Aug 2nd, 2023
