KARACHI: The stock market partially recovered overnight losses on Thursday, thanks to selective buying amid surging remittances and automobile sales.

Ahsan Mehanti of Arif Habib Corporation said stocks showed recovery led by oil, banking and auto sectors on strong earnings outlook.

He said the government’s resolve to settle energy sector circular debt, 44.4pc increase in remittances to $3.2bn and 120pc surge in auto sales in June attracted buying interest.

Topline Securities Ltd said the stock market showed a mixed pattern.

Sectors like fertiliser, power, IT, and banking drove the market’s positive momentum, bolstered by companies including Fauji Fertiliser, Hub Power Company, Systems Ltd, Habib Bank, and National Bank, which collectively contributed 377 points to the index.

As a result, the benchmark index hit an intra-day high of 80,114.73 points and a low of 79,708.87. However, the index settled at 79,992.35 after adding 150.80 points or 0.19 per cent on a day-on-day basis.

However, the overall trading volume shrank 21.55pc to 389.02 million shares. The traded value also fell 5.38pc to Rs20.92bn on a day-on-day basis.

Stocks contributing significantly to the traded volume included Agritech Ltd (22.04m shares), The Hub Power Company (18.62m shares), Air Link Communication (16.81m shares), K-Electric (15.54m shares) and PIA Holding Company (13.34m shares).

The shares registering the most significant increases in their share prices in absolute terms were Exide Pakistan (Rs77.94), PIA Holding Ltd (B) (Rs69.20), Ismail Indus­tries (Rs49.54), Atlas Bat­tery (Rs35.82) and Hoechst Pakistan (Rs30.00).

The companies registering significant decreases in their share prices in absolute terms were Data Agro (Rs47.09), Sapphire Textile (Rs39.00), Rafhan Maize (Rs38.34), Reliance Cotton (Rs37.31) and Shahmurad Sugar (Rs21.98).

Foreign investors rema­ined net buyers as they bought shares worth $0.95m.

Published in Dawn, July 12th, 2024