KARACHI: Positive sentiments surrounded the Pakistan Stock Exchange (PSX) once again on Friday, as the indices, despite minor hiccups in the first half of the session, managed to close in the green zone. Foreign investors offloaded shares worth $6.09 million on Thursday.
On the economic front, the government is projected to add Rs19.3 trillion to its public debt in the next five years, which is equal to 80pc of the debt gathered in the past 71 years. Public debt is estimated to rise to Rs35.2 trillion (up Rs4.2 trillion) by end of the current fiscal year, of which Rs3.2 trillion increase is attributed to the budget deficit while the remaining Rs1.1 trillion or 26pc due to currency devaluation.
Gaining 301.53 points, the KSE-100 index recorded its intraday high of 33,053.79. However, the index lost momentum and rolled to its intraday low of 32,699.24 after shedding 53.02 points. Recovering its losses, it finally settled higher by 281.06 points at 33,033.32. The KMI-30 Index gained 550.79 points to close at 52,805.63, while the KSE All Share Index ended higher by 177.91 points at 23,972.47.
The overall volumes remained healthy and were recorded at 261.70 million. Worldcall Telecom (WTL +6.78pc), Dost Steels Limited (DSL +22.17pc) Unity Foods Limited (UNITY -2.84pc) remained the top picks of the day. The scripts had traded 33.23 million shares, 15.18 million shares and 13.53 million shares respectively.
Sectors that helped paint the index green included oil and gas exploration (+60.04 points), banking (+35.91 points), oil and gas marketing (+34.67 points), fertilizer (+31.20 points) and power generation & distribution sector (+30.20 points).
Loads Limited (LOADS -1.75pc) announced its results for FY19. The company’s revenue increased by +16.7pc to Rs5.71 billion while gross profit margin rose to 9.09pc.
