KARACHI: Despite a contraction in Large-Scale Manufacturing (LSM) during the first half of the current fiscal year, equity investors remained optimistic, helping the market extend gains for the third consecutive session on Thursday.

The big industry production shrank 1.87 per cent year-on-year in July-December FY25.

Topline Securities Ltd said the benchmark KSE 100 index showed a positive trend, bolstered by strong corporate results. It peaked at 114,202 points and ended at 113,739 points, gaining 397 points or 0.35 per cent day-on-day.

This uptick was mainly driven by Cherat Cement Company Ltd, Fauji Cement Company Ltd, Pioneer Cement Ltd, D.G. Khan Cement Company Ltd, and MCB Bank, which together accounted for 353 points of the total gain.

Ahsan Mehanti of Arif Habib Corporation said stocks closed higher amid strong earnings and upbeat global equities. “The index cane under pressure intraday on jittery Asian stocks, $420m dismal current account deficit for January and rising government bond yields,” he added.

Ali Najib, Head of Sales at Insight Securities, said the market remained buoyant.

However, the 114,000 level continued to behave as a hard nut to crack as the benchmark index started to face selling headwinds at and above this barrier.

The day’s highlight was Finance Minister Muhammad Aurangzeb’s confirmation regarding an inflow of $1bn from the International Monetary Fund under its climate financing programme.

The market activity remained strong as the trading volume increased by 17.92pc to 787.43 million shares while the traded value rose by 28.61pc to Rs33.09bn day-on-day.

Stocks contributing significantly to the traded volume included Pakistan International Bulk Terminal (91.476m shares), Fauji Cement Company Ltd (73.707m shares), K-Electric Ltd (58.96m shares), Maple Leaf Cement Factory Ltd (53.404m shares) and The Bank of Punjab (33.854m shares).

The shares registering the most significant increases in their share prices in absolute terms were Hoechst Pakistan Ltd (Rs125.03), Lucky Core Industries (Rs58.24), Mehmood Textile Mills Ltd (Rs43.28), The Thal Industries Corporation Ltd (Rs30.00) and Sitara Chemical Industries Ltd (Rs29.60).The companies registering significant decreases in their share prices in absolute terms were Unilever Pakistan Foods Ltd (Rs272.51), Abbott Laboratories (Pakistan) Ltd (Rs124.62), Faisal Spinning Mills Ltd (Rs31.22), Sapphire Fibres Ltd (Rs25.73) and Ismail Industries Ltd (Rs25.42).

Published in Dawn, February 21st, 2025