KARACHI: The Pakistan Stock Exchange (PSX) Thursday crossed the psychological barrier of 40,000 after adding 337.47 points to take the tally to 40010.36 level at closing before a long weekend.
The stocks recorded the highest trading level of 40091.48 points and lowest level of 39672.89 points, with the volume of 180.78 million shares and value of over Rs16 billion. As many as 342 companies were active; of which 171 advanced, 150 declined and 21 remained unchanged.
TRG Pak Ltd was the volume leader with 23.34 million shares, adding Rs0.96 to reach Rs38.77. It was followed by Engro Corp with 22.76 million shares, gaining Rs0.81 to end at Rs262.32 and Sui North Gas with 16.01 million shares, shedding Rs5.22 to close at Rs102.90.
The top three gainers were Bata (Pak) with price per share of 2450 (84.50), Khyber Tobacco with price per share of 1499 (64.10) and Millat Tractors of 1161.84 (43.01).
The top three losers were Sanofi-Aventis with price per share of 1441.05 (-49.90), Atlas Battery with price per share of 540.06 (-28.42) and Exide (PAK) share of 491.15 (-25.85).
Earlier, the PSX benchmark KSE 100-index opened on positive note and added 355 points to reach 40027 points level in early trading. The stocks remained bullish till midday after gaining 90 points to reach 39762 level.
Yesterday, the stocks, after a seesaw, landed back into the green zone, closing up 39 points at 39,673 points. Positive sentiment in the market was observed as the PM showed interest towards local furnace oil in ECC meeting, along with anticipated OPEC meeting leading to buying interest in OGDC and lastly local buyers showing interest in ENGRO
.Top index point contributors were ENGRO (up 4.2%), OGDC (1.6%), TRG (4.7%), PMPK (5%) & KEL (2.6%), adding 129 points, while UBL (down 1.8%), HUBC (1.9%), HBL (0.8%), POL (0.9%) & MCB (0.9%) held back 100 points from the index.
On the sector front, fertilizer contributed 73 points, technology added 18 points, tobacco 15 points, E&Ps 10 points, textile 8 points, while banks eroded 50 points, power 23 points and insurance 8 points. TRG, KEL, ANL, FCCL and EFERT were the volume leaders, contributing 46% to the total volume.
Average current volumes witnessed an increase of 1.7% to 115m shares. Likewise, average traded value also increased by 23% to $62m. Scrips of total 346 active companies traded in the session of which 185 closed in advance, 141 in decline while 20 remained unchanged.
