KARACHI: Stock trading in the last session of 2023 remained range-bound as the benchmark of major shares closed above the 62,000-point level, up 55 per cent on a year-on-year basis.

Arif Habib Ltd quoted the Bloomberg index, which showed the KSE-100 index posted an annual return of over 24pc in dollar terms.

“Seasonal tendencies keep Pakistan [market] bullish into February, which should coincide with a new all-time high before a correction in the second quarter of FY24,” it said.

Prices of as many as 56 shares rose on Friday while those of 38 declined. One major reason for the bullish trend in the last trading session of 2023 was the unexpected rise of $853 million in the central bank’s foreign exchange reserves, which increased to $7.8 billion. Investors also reacted positively to a drop in the yields on government securities and improvement in the current account.

The KSE-100 index closed at 62,451.04 points after gaining 398.81 points or 0.64 per cent from the preceding session.

The overall trading volume decreased 12.6pc to 590.6 million shares. The traded value decreased 16.9pc to Rs16.8bn on a day-on-day basis.

Stocks contributing significantly to the traded volume included K-Electric Ltd (141.8m shares), Fauji Foods Ltd (28.2m shares), WorldCall Telecom Ltd (27.8m shares), Pak Elektron Ltd (20.5m shares) and Cnergyico PK Ltd (20m shares).

Companies registering the biggest increases in their share prices in absolute terms were Nestle Pakistan Ltd (Rs203), Rafhan Maize Products Company Ltd (Rs198), Shahmurad Sugar Mills Ltd (Rs22.91), Philip Morris Pakistan Ltd (Rs22.05) and Bata Pakistan Ltd (Rs19.66).

Companies registering the biggest decreases in their share prices in absolute terms were Unilever Pakistan Foods Ltd (Rs99), Sapphire Fibres Ltd (Rs42.58), Mari Petroleum Company Ltd (Rs19.93), Pakistan National Shipping Corporation Ltd (Rs16) and Dawood Lawrencepur Ltd (Rs11.35).

Foreign investors remained net buyers as they purchased shares worth $0.26m.

Published in Dawn, December 30th, 2023