KARACHI: Stock trading began on a negative note on Thursday but saw a rebound in subsequent hours.

JS Global said buying activity observed, especially in oil stocks, in the later part of the session.

According to Arif Habib Ltd, refinery stocks also received strong demand in the second half of the session. Attock Refinery Ltd, National Refinery Ltd and Pakistan Refinery Ltd resumed their upside after being in the correction mode following the appro­val of the Refinery Policy.

Engro Corporation Ltd disappointed investors with a pay-out that was below market expectations, it added.

“Going forward, we recommend investors should adopt a buy-on-dips strategy in banking, exploration and production and textile sectors,” said JS Global.

As a result, the KSE-100 index settled at 48,325.84 points, up 179.40 points or 0.37 per cent from the preceding session.

The overall trading volume increased 16.6pc to 226.9 million shares. The traded value decreased 30.6pc to Rs10 billion on a day-on-day basis.

Stocks contributing significantly to the traded volume included Dewan Automotive Engineering Ltd (25.2m shares), JS Bank Ltd (14.3m shares), Pakistan Refinery Ltd (12.5m shares), Oil and Gas Development Comp­any Ltd (9.3m shares) and Pakistan Petroleum Ltd (7.3m shares).

Companies registering the biggest increases in their share prices in absolute terms were Ismail Ind­u­stries Ltd (Rs42.50), Sanofi-Aventis Pakistan Ltd (Rs38), Exide Pakistan Ltd (Rs26.95), Pakistan Tob­acco Company Ltd (Rs21.93) and Systems Ltd (Rs15.97).

Companies that recor­ded the biggest declines in their share prices in absolute terms were Sapphire Fibres Ltd (Rs91.50), Rafhan Maize Products Company Ltd (Rs53.20), Philip Morris Pakistan Ltd (Rs17.79), Murree Brewery Company Ltd (Rs12.15) and Engro Corporation Ltd (Rs11.59).

Foreign investors were net buyers as they purchased shares worth $1m.

Published in Dawn, August 18th, 2023