PSX creates history, settles above 54,000

KARACHI: Following a short-lived dip in the preceding session, share prices resumed on Wednesday their upward journey, which was fuelled by power, fertiliser, banking and auto sectors, as ongoing talks with the International Monetary Fund (IMF) improved sentiments.

Topline Securities Ltd CEO Mohammed Sohail pointed out that the bourse witnessed a two-year high of daily business as the value traded clocked up at $70 million.

Institutional buying resulted in higher business as investors expected that interest rates might fall sooner than expected owing to a declining trend in global oil prices.

Even though the KSE-100 index is at an all-time high, the KSE-30 index — which tracks the share prices of top 30 companies, excluding dividends — is still hovering 35 per cent below its 2017 peak, he added.

As a result, the KSE-100 index closed at 54,261.43 points after gaining 525.70 points or 0.98pc from the preceding session.

The overall trading volume decreased 4.6pc to 482.7 million shares. The traded value increased 10.2pc to Rs20.1bn on a day-on-day basis.

Stocks contributing significantly to the traded volume included Pakistan Refinery Ltd (40.2m shares), Cnergyico PK Ltd (38.4m shares), Hum Network Ltd (31.2m shares), K-Electric Ltd (29.9m shares) and Kohinoor Spinning Mills Ltd (23.2m shares).

Companies registering the biggest increases in their share prices in absolute terms were Unilever Pakistan Foods Ltd (Rs1,179), Pak Suzuki Motor Company Ltd (Rs30.46), Faisal Spinning Mills Ltd (Rs23.90), Colgate-Palmolive Pakistan Ltd (Rs18.15) and Rafhan Maize Products Company Ltd (Rs16.67).

Companies registering the biggest decreases in their share prices in absolute terms were Sapphire Textile Mills Ltd (Rs88.49), Indus Motor Company Ltd (Rs58.63), Pakistan Hotels Developers Ltd (Rs21.40), Abbott Laboratories Ltd (Rs5.38) and Wah Noble Chemicals Ltd (Rs5.33).

Foreign investors were net sellers as they offloaded shares worth $2.03m.