KARACHI: The stock exchange on Friday welcomed the resignation of Asad Umar from the post of finance minister by gaining 481 points.
The benchmark KSE-100 index of Pakistan Stock Exchange (PSX) closed at 37,292 points as against 36,811 points showing an increase of 481 points (+1.3 percent DoD).
Analysts at Arif Habib Limited said that resignation of the finance minister gave the market the required impetus and investors showed their confidence with an increase of 917 points.
Almost everything from banks to steel saw healthy buying activity, which was further aided by prospects of discovery in offshore Indus, giving way to buying activity in OGDC and PPL.
BOP reversed the negative tide with the news of SBP issuing clarification regarding implementation of TSA. Resultantly, BOP saw considerable activity at upper circuit.
SNGP, which is due to consider Financials over the weekend, saw the scrip trading at an near upper circuit.
Likewise, LOTCHEM which was estimated to post lower earnings came with a positive surprise and double the market expectation. LOTCHEM also closed at upper circuit.
Sectors contributing to the performance include Banks (+188 points), E&P (+61 points), Fertilizer (+46 points), Food (+40 points) Power (+40 points).
Volumes declined from 216 million shares to 177 million shares (-18 percent DoD). Average traded value on the contrary increased by 28 percent DoD to reach US$ 46.9 million as against US$ 36.6 million.
Stocks that contributed significantly to the volumes include BOP,KEL, UNITY, PAEL and WTL, which formed XX percent of total volumes.
Stocks that contributed positively include MCB (+65 points), HBL (+51 points), FFC (+38 points), PPL (+36 points), and NESTLE (+35 points).
Stocks that contributed negatively include MARI (-8 points), IGIHL (-6 points), MEBL (-6 points), HMB (-5 points) and DAWH (-4 points).
