KARACHI: Following an all-out rout a day ago, equities made a swift recovery on Wednesday and regained some of the lost ground amid value-hunting by investors.

Topline Securities Ltd said the session initially carried forward the bearish momentum from Tuesday when the index registered the highest ever single-day drop.

The KSE-100 index dropped to an intraday low of 413 points or 0.7 per cent, but value-hunters rescued the market soon. Broad-based buying led the benchmark to a close above the 60,000-point level in what analysts dubbed the third-largest gain on a day-on-day basis in the index’s history.

In particular, power, banks, technology, fertiliser and cement sectors received considerable buying interest.

The categories of investors who bought up shares in large quantities were insurance companies ($2.1m), brokers ($2m) and individuals ($1.1m). Foreign investors remained net sellers as they offloaded shares worth over $0.3m.

“Going forward, we recommend investors should stay cautious at current levels and wait for dips,” said JS Global Capital Ltd.

The KSE-100 index closed at 60,863.62 points after gaining 1,692.64 points or 2.8pc from the preceding session.

The overall trading volume remained flat at 669.3 million shares. The traded value decreased 5.9pc to Rs16.1 billion on a day-on-day basis.

Stocks contributing significantly to the traded volume included K-Electric Ltd (102.2m shares), Fauji Foods Ltd (58.1m shares), Pakistan Telecommunication Ltd (55.4m shares), Cnergyico PK Ltd (49.6m shares) and WorldCall Telecom Ltd (37.1m shares).

Companies registering the biggest increases in their share prices in absolute terms were Pakistan Tobacco Company Ltd (Rs56), Mari Petroleum Company Ltd (Rs43.55), Service Industries Ltd (Rs41.55), Sapphire Fibres Ltd (Rs28.99) and Colgate-Palmolive Pakistan Ltd (Rs23.95).

Companies registering the biggest decreases in their share prices in absolute terms were Mehmood Textile Mills Ltd (Rs37), Faisal Spinning Mills Ltd (Rs29.25), Al-Abbas Sugar Mills Ltd (Rs28.98), Atlas Honda Ltd (Rs17.17) and Dawood Lawrencepur Ltd (Rs6.94).

Published in Dawn, December 28th, 2023