KARACHI: The stock exchange gained 584 points on Thursday on buying activities and improved sentiments.
The benchmark KSE-100 index of Pakistan Stock Exchange (PSX) closed at 38,706 points as against 38,123 points showing an increase of 584 points.
Analysts at Arif Habib Limited said that expectation of resolution of the controversy regarding COAS extension in Service helped Index recover, as Investors (largely Individuals and Corporates) have been buying the dips since last week.
Market opened on a positive note and reached +724 points. Activity was observed across the board with major activity being observed in Cement and Banks.
Profit booking was also seen during the day which brought the index down to +584 points and closed the session at that.
Auto sector has generally been rallying on the back of upcoming Auto Industrial Development Policy, where shares were seen hitting upper circuit in today’s session.
Cement sector led the volumes with 48.8 million shares, followed by Banks (40 million) and Engineering (36.5 million).
Among scripts, UNITY again topped the charts with 20.4 million shares, followed by PAEL (19.7 million) and TRG (15.8 million).
Sectors contributing to the performance include Banks (+91 points), Power (+75 points), Cement (+59 points), E&P (+48 points) and O&GMCs (+46 points).
Volumes staged a strong comeback with 348.2 million shares against 228.4 million the other day (+52 percent DoD). Average traded value also increased by 52 percent to reach US$ 78.1 million as against US$ 51.5 million.
Stocks that contributed significantly to the volumes include UNITY, PAEL, TRG, BIPL and FFL, which formed 24 percent of total volumes.
Stocks that contributed positively include HUBC (+68 points), PSO (+31 points), MCB (+30 points), LUCK (+29 points) and NBP (+23 points). Stocks that contributed negatively include SHFA (-7 points), HBL (-5 points), BAFL (-4 points), PMPK (-3 points), and PKGS (-3 points).
