KARACHI: Bulls took charge at the Pakistan Stock Exchange following extended Eid holidays, with the benchmark of representative shares opening on the higher side on Wednesday.

Arif Habib Ltd said the KSE-100 index hit an intraday high of 356.07 points as investors remained hopeful for the release of a delayed tranche of the International Monetary Fund’s $7 billion loan programme. Their expectation was based on media reports suggesting the inflow of funds from friendly countries.

Investor activity registered a substantial increase with across-the-board stronger volumes.

As a result, the KSE-100 index settled at 41,099.58 points, up 91.76 points or 0.22 per cent from the preceding session.

The overall trading volume increased 7.5pc to 186.9 million shares. The traded value went up 1pc to $20.4m on a day-on-day basis.

Stocks contributing significantly to the traded volume included Pakistan Refinery Ltd (16m shares), Fauji Foods Ltd (13.6m shares), WorldCall Telecom Ltd (10.3m shares), Cnergyico PK Ltd (10.3m shares) and Maple Leaf Cement Factory Ltd (6.1m shares).

Sectors contributing the most to the index performance were commercial banking (56 points), investment banking (42.4 points), technology and communication (13.1 points), food and personal care products (12 points) and refinery (9.2 points).

Companies registering the biggest increases in their share prices in absolute terms were Khyber Textile Mills Ltd (Rs52.45), Sanofi-Aventis Pakistan Ltd (Rs40), Siemens Pakistan Engineering Ltd (Rs33), Premium Textile Mills Ltd (Rs27.95) and Indus Motor Company Ltd (Rs24.35).

Companies that recorded the biggest declines in their share prices in absolute terms were Sapphire Fibres Ltd (Rs74.02), JS Global Capital Ltd (Rs24.33), Philip Morris Pakistan Ltd (Rs19.89), Colgate-Palmolive Pakistan Ltd (Rs12.41) and Al-Abbas Sugar Mills Ltd (Rs8.95).

Foreign investors were net buyers as they purchased shares worth $0.9m.

JS Global said it expects the market to continue the positive momentum going forward.

Published in Dawn, April 27th, 2023