KARACHI: The Pakistan Stock Exchange (PSX) closed week on bullish note as benchmark KSE 100-index gained 755 points to take the tally to 39,471 points on Friday.
Earlier, the stocks crossed the psychological barrier of 39,000 after gaining huge 323 points to reach 39039 level in early trading. The Pakistan Stock Exchange continued upward journey till midday and added 498 points to reach 39213 level .
Sectors contributing to this increase were cement that added 152 points, commercial banks that added 94 points, O&GMCs 91 points and Fertilizer that contributed 89 points to the index gain.
Scrips that contributed positively include LUCK that added 60 points, PSO 42 points, FFC 40 points, OGDC 38 points and UBL that added 37 points to the index respectively. Stocks that contributed negatively include POL that shed 29 points, PPL that detracted 14 points, MUREB 6 points, BATA 4 points and DAWH that took away 4 points from the index respectively.
After a very long time, market volumes crossed 200m mark. The total volumes clocked at 222.8m shares as compared to 179.6m shares of previous day (up 24% DoD). Average traded value also increased from $62.4m to $82.6m (up 32% DoD).
Stocks that contributed significantly to the volumes include DSFL, LOTCHEM, TRG, WTL and KEL contributing a total of 68m shares, reflecting 31% share of total volumes.
Yesterday, the bulls dominated trading session on the back of strong participation from local investors, where the PSX benchmark index jumped to 38716 points by rallying 508 points or (1.3%).
Amongst the top gainers of the day were DGKC (up 2.36%), ISL (up 5%), ENGRO (gain 3.63%), and PSO (up 3.04%). In addition, the banking sector was also in the limelight on account of expectations about increase in interest rate in the near future.
Refineries also performed well on the back of news of plans to export Furnace Oil, where ATRL (up 3.0%) and NRL (rose 3.02%) closed in the green.
Steel sparkled as acceleration in world steel production eased (up 3.7% y/y in Nov’17) with Chinese output falling 8.5% m/m to a 9m low of 66mn tons, as the world’s largest player aims to cut excess capacity & curb emissions. Top 10 Index point contributors were UBL (up 3.6%), ENGRO (rose 3.6%), HBL (gain 1.5%), DAWH (up 3.6%), SNGP (up 5%), PSO (up 3%), ISL (rose 5%), LUCK (up 1.1%), MCB (up 0.8%) & NBP (gain 3.2%); adding 285 points to the index.
On the sector front; banks added 164 points, Ferts 93 points, OMCs 67 points, Cement 58 points, Engineering surged 38 points with all four stocks ISL, INIL, ASTL & CSAP hitting their upper limit; whereas Food shed 14 points. Participation improved; volumes rose 39% d/d while value was up 40%.
