KARACHI: The shares market maintained its upward momentum on Thursday registering a sixth consecutive day-on-day gain even though the benchmark index exhibited some volatility.

Topline Securities Ltd reported the first half of the session witnessed substantial buying activity, propelling the index close to the 65,000-point mark.

However, a temporary decline in the benchmark occurred due to profit-taking as the KSE-100 index hit a low of 63,853 points. Subsequently, buyers re-entered the market and pushed the index back towards its intraday highs, ultimately concluding the day on the higher side.

During the trading hours, stocks in the exploration and production, oil marketing and banking sectors made positive contributions and added collectively 483 points to the index. On the flip side, some stocks such as the Hub Power Company Ltd, Lucky Cement Ltd and Systems Ltd witnessed profit-taking, resulting in a combined loss of 97 points.

As a result, the KSE-100 index closed at 64,718.08 points after gaining 800.35 points or 1.25 per cent from the preceding session.

The overall trading volume increased 33.6pc to 1.3 billion shares. The traded value increased 5.9pc to Rs37.2bn on a day-on-day basis.

Stocks contributing significantly to the traded volume included K-Electric Ltd (246m shares), Cnergyico PK Ltd (98.9m shares), Hascol Petroleum Ltd (60.5m shares), WorldCall Telecom Ltd (59.2m shares) and Pakistan Telecommunication Ltd (43.2m shares).

Companies registering the biggest increases in their share prices in absolute terms were Mari Petroleum Company Ltd (Rs127.22), Sapphire Fibres Ltd (Rs98.19), Service Industries Ltd (Rs42.05), Packages Ltd (Rs36.52) and Bata Pakistan Ltd (Rs30).

Companies registering the biggest decreases in their share prices in absolute terms were Rafhan Maize Products Company Ltd (Rs109), Pakistan Engineering Company Ltd (Rs41.25), Pakistan Hotels Developers Ltd (Rs24.31), Pakistan Services Ltd (Rs15) and Fazal Cloth Mills Ltd (Rs12.01).

Foreign investors were net buyers as they purchased shares worth $4.31m.

Published in Dawn, December 8th, 2023