KARACHI: Stock prices rose on Wednesday amid strong financial results and surging global crude oil prices.

Arif Habib Corporation analyst Ahsan Mehanti said further recovery in the rupee’s value against the dollar along with upbeat data of auto sales, which rose 49 per cent month-on-month in August, caused the rise in share prices.

In addition, speculations ahead of the policy rate decision by the Monetary Policy Committee of the State Bank of Pakistan also played the role of a catalyst in the bullish close.

The sales desk of Arif Habib Ltd commented that the news flow relating to the key interest rate and a rebalancing of the Financial Times Stock Exchange 100 Index will move the market decisively either above or below the 46,000-point level going forward.

Investors should take advantage of any downside and buy stocks in cement, technology and exploration and production sectors, said JS Global.

As a result, the KSE-100 index settled at 45,590.93 points, up 82.53 points or 0.18pc from the preceding session.

The overall trading volume decreased 18.6pc to 102.7 million shares. The traded value decreased 23.8pc to Rs3.8bn on a day-on-day basis.

Stocks contributing significantly to the traded volume included the Dewan Farooque Motors Ltd (7.2m shares), Agritech Ltd (6.5m shares), Cnergyico PK Ltd (5m shares), WorldCall Telecom Ltd (4.5m shares) and Maple Leaf Cement Factory Ltd (4.1m shares).

Companies registering the biggest increases in their share prices in absolute terms were Bata Pakistan Ltd (Rs25), Lucky Core Industries Ltd (Rs18.61), Lucky Cement Ltd (Rs13.03), Pakistan Hotels Developers Ltd (Rs8.61) and Shahmurad Sugar Mills Ltd (Rs7.35).

Companies that recorded the biggest declines in their share prices in absolute terms were Pakistan Services Ltd (Rs30), Murree Brewery Company Ltd (Rs13.16), Premium Textile Mills Ltd (Rs12.90), Indus Motor Company Ltd (Rs12.22) and Mehmood Textile Mills Ltd (Rs11.77).

Foreign investors were net sellers as they offloaded shares worth $0.53m.

Published in Dawn, September 14th, 2023