KARACHI: Bulls took control of the stock market on Monday as investors celebrated Saudi Arabia’s $3 billion support package for Islamabad along with the promise of $1.2bn worth of oil supplies on deferred payments.
According to Arif Habib Ltd, a major dip in crude oil prices also created a positive momentum in the market despite the emergence of a new variant of Covid-19. The perception of investors about the foreign selling spree being over created an opportunity for intraday traders to make profits.
As a result, the KSE-100 index added 1,215.89 points or 2.76 per cent to close at 45,330 points.
Market participation decreased 7.5pc to 268.2 million shares while the value of traded shares went up 6.1pc to $61.9m.
Sectors contributing the highest number of points to the benchmark index included commercial banking (282.73 points), cement (210.58 points), oil and gas exploration (138.59 points), fertiliser (99.5 points) and oil and gas marketing (76.47 points).
Stocks that contributed significantly to the traded volume included Fauji Foods Ltd (14.85m shares), TPL Properties Ltd (14.74m shares), WorldCall Telecom Ltd (13.69m shares), Byco Petroleum Ltd (12.59m shares) and First National Equities Ltd (10.75m shares).
Stocks that contributed positively to the index included Habib Bank Ltd (101.68 points), Lucky Cement Ltd (88.89 points), Pakistan Petroleum Ltd (70.01 points), Pakistan State Oil Company Ltd (58.58 points) and MCB Bank Ltd (57 points).
Shares that contributed negatively included Standard Chartered Ltd (2.34 points), Colgate-Palmolive Pakistan Ltd (2.17 points), Atlas Honda Ltd (0.99 points), Ghani Glass Ltd (0.67 points) and First Habib Modaraba (0.35 points).
Stocks recording the biggest increases in percentage terms included Cherat Cement Company Ltd, which went up 7.54pc, followed by The Searle Company Ltd (7.5pc), Aisha Steel Mills Ltd (7.45pc), Maple Leaf Cement Factory Ltd (7.24pc) and Nishat Mills Ltd (7.24pc).
Foreign investors remained net sellers as they offloaded shares worth $2.38m on a net basis.
Published in Dawn, November 30th, 2021