KARACHI: The bulls staged another robust rally on Tuesday to help the KSE-100 index achieve another milestone. The 104,000-barrier was easily knocked down as investors remained busy in value-hunting all over the board.

Due to profit-taking the index lost 449.35 points to 102,825.60 in early trade. However, thanks to a strong buying interest the surged by 1,405.94 to hit an intraday peak of 104,680.89. Ultimately, the index settled at 104,559.07, adding 1,284.13 points or 1.24 per cent day-on-day.

Topline Securities Ltd said the trade value in the ready market climbed to an impressive Rs57 billion ($203 million), marking the highest level in 18 years. This bullish momentum is primarily attributed to heightened investor optimism surrounding a potential substantial rate cut in the upcoming monetary policy meeting scheduled for Dec 16.

Adding to the positive sentiment, the country’s trade deficit for November contracted by 19pc year-on-year to $1.59bn, supported by a rise in exports and a decline in imports. This improvement has bolstered expectations of a robust current account surplus, further uplifting market confidence.

Key drivers of the index’s rally included heavyweights such as Engro Corporation, Mari Petroleum, Pakistan Oilfield, Fauji Fertiliser, and Dawod Hercules, collectively contributing 658 points. Conversely, notable laggards like Habib Bank, Systems Ltd, Meezan Bank, Cherat Cement, and Pakistan Petroleum, trimmed 169 points from the index.

The trading volume was up 13.5pc to 1.76 billion shares while the traded value rose 20.2pc to Rs56.62bn on a day-on-day basis.

Stocks contributing significantly to the traded volume included Cnergyico PK (246.70m shares), WorldCall Telecom (89.41m shares), Hascol Petroleum (87.02m shares), Pak Elektron (67.80m shares) and Sui Southern Gas (61.81m shares).

The shares registering the most significant increa­ses in their share prices in absolute terms were Unilever Foods (Rs65.10), Nestle Pakistan (Rs48.51), Khyber Textile (Rs36.10), Hallmark Company (Rs33.58) and PIA Holding Ltd [B] (Rs32.85).

The companies registering significant decreases in their share prices in absolute terms were Hafiz Ltd (Rs21.31), Indus Motor (Rs20.65), Colgate-Palmolive (Rs9.18), JDW Sugar Mills (Rs8.56) and Sapphire Textile (Rs8.00).

Published in Dawn, December 4th, 2024