KARACHI: The benchmark index of the stock market crossed the psychological barrier of 64,000 points in intraday trading on Wednesday before closing at yet another all-time high.

Topline Securities said bulls left little space for bears to operate as strong buying across the board kept up the momentum throughout business hours.

However, investors’ sentiments changed for specific sectors from the preceding session. Most favourite sectors on Wednesday for value hunters were technology, exploration and production and banking.

Arif Habib Ltd CEO Shahid Ali Habib said the index has gained 54.5 per cent since Pakistan signed a loan agreement with the International Monetary Fund (IMF) in June.

The value of all shares listed on the exchange has also gone up 46pc since the end of June to $32bn versus $22bn at the end of 2022-23, he said. “Foreign activity has also increased in the market with a net buy of $50 million in 2023-24 to date,” he added.

As a result, the KSE-100 index closed at 63,917.72 points after gaining 961.70 points or 1.53pc from the preceding session.

The overall trading volume increased 28.6pc to 984.8 million shares. The traded value increased 13.7pc to Rs35.8 billion on a day-on-day basis.

Stocks contributing significantly to the traded volume included K-Electric Ltd (143.6m shares), WorldCall Telecom Ltd (56.8m shares), Hascol Petroleum Ltd (54.5m shares), Pakistan Refinery Ltd (42.6m shares) and Pakistan Petroleum Ltd (35.3m shares).

Companies registering the biggest increases in their share prices in absolute terms were Nestle Pakistan Ltd (Rs99.99), Sapphire Fibres Ltd (Rs89.50), Mari Petroleum Company Ltd (Rs77.57), Bhanero Textile Mills Ltd (Rs46.98) and Pak Suzuki Motor Company Ltd (Rs38.23).

Companies registering the biggest decreases in their share prices in absolute terms were Rafhan Maize Products Company Ltd (Rs91), Pakistan Tobacco Company Ltd (Rs55.69), Mehmood Textile Mills Ltd (Rs23.85), Mitchells Fruit Farms Ltd (Rs16.92) and Al-Ghazi Tractors Ltd (Rs12.48).

Foreign investors were net buyers as they purchased shares worth $2.23m.

Published in Dawn, December 7th, 2023