ISLAMABAD: The Pakistan Stock Exchange Wednesday recouped in early trading with 274 points to reach 46750 level.
On Tuesday, the stocks closed lower, with the benchmark 100-share index shedding 103 points to close at 46, 476.73 points.
Investors in equities remained sidelined as formal implication of a major development (tax reforms package) is pending parliament’s consent. However, trade activity in small cap stocks remained investors’ top pick, where LOTCHEM and EPCL cumulatively generated volume of 34m shares as market talks about possible withdrawal/removal of Gas Infrastructure Development Cess (GIDC) on fuel and power expense, where LOTCHEM and EPCL both will be beneficiaries (both companies are provisioning GIDC amount) along with fertilizer manufactures (FFC and FFBL mainly).
E&Ps sector added 60 points to index mainly on the back of rise in crude oil prices as trade spat between US and China is softening. Moreover, market participation in terms of volumes went up by 8%, while value fell by 5%. Top five stocks BAHL (-4.2%), HBL (-0.8%), MCB (-1%), COLG (-5%) & UBL (-0.6%) withheld 121pts from the index whereas stocks including PPL (+1.9%), POL (+0.8%), ATRL (+4%), FFC (+0.6%) & PSMC (+3.4%) added 80pts to the index gain. Pakistan remittances balance for Mar 2018 stood at $1.8b, up by 5% YoY, 22% MoM.
World Call Telecom (WTL) announced its financial results for 2017, where basic EPS of the company clocked in at Rs6.18 against LPS of Rs1.72 last year, mainly due to rise in other income to Rs8.1bn from Rs192mn in 2016.
