KARACHI: After a lacklustre start to the week, the Pakistan Stock Exchange (PSX) changed its path on Tuesday, with the benchmark KSE-100 Index managing to cross the 34,000-mark barrier.
Foreign investors ended the previous session (Monday) as net buyers, registering a net inflow of $1.09 million.
“International crude prices improved overnight and helped exploration & production, oil marketing companies and refineries to stage recovery,” said a market report issued by Arif Habib Ltd. “Cement and steel sectors also saw renewed buying interest, however, overall stock prices did not cross yesterday’s high.”
The KSE-100 Index remained in the positive territory throughout the day, recording its intraday high at 34,138.30 after gaining 313.79 points. It closed higher by 194.61 points at 34,019.12.
Among other indices, the KMI-30 Index accumulated 469.93 points to end at 54,098.05, whereas the KSE All Share Index gathered 150.06 points, settling at 24,373.34. Of the total traded shares, 228 advanced and 86 declined.
The overall market volumes declined from 262.37 million shares in the previous session to 217.92 million shares (-17pc). Average traded value also fell by 21pc, from $50.2 million to $39.5 million. Unity Foods Limited (UNITY +0.39pc), Agritech Limited (AGL +18.82pc) and TPL Corp Limited (TPL +24.57pc) led the volume chart, exchanging 20.63 million, 11.03 million and 8.06 million shares, respectively.
Sectors that painted the KSE-100 Index green included oil & gas exploration (+64.61 points), banking (+31.43 points) and power generation & distribution (+22.69 points). Among the companies, Hub Power Company Limited (HUBC +19.02 points), Pakistan Oilfields Limited (POL +17.65 points) and Oil and Gas Development Company Limited (+17.29 points) remained the top contributors.
With the addition of 3.59pc in its cumulative market capitalization, the refinery sector turned out to be the top gainer of the day; Byco Petroleum Pakistan Limited (BYCO +4.77pc), Attock Refinery Limited (ATRL +2.67pc), National Refinery Limited (NRL +1.39pc) and Pakistan Refinery Limited (PRL +1.14pc) closing with decent gains.
