KARACHI: The stock market gained 389 points on Thursday as sentiments of business community were high after meeting with Chief of Army Staff (COAS).
The benchmark KSE-100 index of Pakistan Stock Exchange (PSX) closed at 32,752 points as against 32,363 points showing an increase of 389 points.
Analysts at Arif Habib Limited said that the market stayed pumped up the entire session after an initial drop of 83 points earlier in the session.
Although oil prices showed negative trend, E&P scrips managed to stay afloat with nominal price gains. Several stocks in Cement, Refinery and OMCs hit upper circuit.
Meeting of businessmen with Army Chief improved sentiments at the bourse, with the expectation of concrete steps being taken now onwards.
Investors put fears of FATF, higher interest rate and Inflationary concerns on the back burner and took positive view on market.
Overall volumes hit a new high of CY19 with 324 million shares. Cement sector led the volumes with 39.1 million shares, followed by Power (+37.8 million) and Engineering (31.6 million).
Among scrips, KEL managed to post 35.7 million shares followed by UNITY (22.7 million) and DSL (11.8 million).
Sectors contributing to the performance include Banks (+90 points), Cement (+65 points), Fertilizer (+55 points), Power (+40 points), O&GMCs (+27 points).
Volumes hit an 11month high of 324.1 million shares against 181.4 million shares (+79 percent DoD). Average traded value also surged by 68 percent DoD to reach US$ 58.2 million as against US$ 34.7 million.
Stocks that contributed significantly to the volumes include KEL, UNITY, DSL, MLCF and TRG, which formed 29 percent of total volumes.
Stocks that contributed positively include HBL (+31 points), LUCK (+28 points), ENGRO (+24 points), KEL (+20 points) and FFC (+20 points). Stocks that contributed negatively include POL (-9 points), MUREB (-6 points), COLG (-5 points), NESTLE (-3 points), and GHGL (-3 points).
