KARACHI: It was a day of relief for investors at the Pakistan Stock Exchange (PSX) as the indices recovered losses accumulated in the previous session, helping the KSE-100 index surge by over 1,100 points.
According to analysts, the market staged a strong rally on Thursday on back of de-escalation in geopolitical tensions, which helped improve investor confidence.
On the economic front, the World Bank, in its recent report, has slightly lowered Pakistan’s growth rate projections for the current fiscal year as well as the next two years owing to the continuation of tight monetary policy, fiscal consolidation and external factors.
“Pakistan’s current year growth rate has been forecasted at 2.4pc, about 0.3pc lower than its estimates of June 2019 — before touching 3pc in the next fiscal year and 3.9pc in FY2022,” the report stated.
The KSE-100 Index recorded its intraday high at 42,556.01 after accumulating 1,198.45 points. It settled higher by 1,165.51 points at 42,523.07. The KMI-30 Index swelled by 1,939.92 points to settle at 69,486.33, while the KSE All Share Index gathered 643.81 points, ending at 29,654.66.
Sectors that painted the KSE-100 Index green included banking (+335.29 points), oil and gas exploration (+135.15 points) and fertiliser (+129.42 points). Among the companies, Habib Bank Limited (HBL +122.83 points), Hub Power Company Limited (HUBC +79.08 points) and Pak Petroleum Limited (PPL +73.72 points) contributed maximum points to the index.
The overall trading volumes improved from 280.07 million in the preceding session to 362.49 million. The Bank of Punjab (BOP +6.44pc) led the volume chart, followed by K-Electric Limited (KEL +6.77pc) and Unity Foods Limited (UNITY +6.25pc). The scripts had exchanged 53.07 million, 33.46 million and 24.31 million shares, respectively.
The cement sector accumulated 4.34pc in its total market capitalisation. D G Khan Cement Company Limited (DGKC +5.00pc), Lucky Cement Limited (LUCK +4.49pc), Maple Leaf Cement Factory Limited (MLCF +4.99pc) and Bestway Cement Limited (BWCL +2.87pc) ended with decent gains.
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