Market sets another record of breaching 75,000 points level

KARACHI: Pakistan Stock Exchange (PSX) achieved another milestone on Wednesday when its benchmark KSE-100 Index breached the 75,000 points level for the first time in history; however, the index failed to sustain this level amid profit-taking activity and closed at 74,663.98 points with a gain of 132.79 points (0.18 percent).
The market has maintained its record-breaking spree for the past six months. The latest surge at over 75,000 points was recorded in the wake of the MSCI decision which encouraged foreign investors to increase stakes in companies listed on PSX, particularly those which are listed in the MSCI Frontier Market and MSCI Pakistan Index.
The MSCI announced adding one more Pakistan company, National Bank of Pakistan (NBP), to its Frontier Index during its semi-annual review. The decision is set to increase Pakistan’s weight in the index. The decision would potentially attract more passive foreign investment at PSX. Foreign investors are increasing their holdings on optimism amid Pakistan approaching the International Monetary Fund (IMF) to acquire a new loan program to ensure continuity in repaying maturing foreign debt and creating financial space to support ramping up economic growth.
The market opened on a positive note, posting over 500 points during the first hour’s trading and jumping the KSE-100 Index to its highest level of 75,115.32 points. Still attractive stock valuations, expectations of more foreign inflows, and starting talks with the IMF on a new loan program added to the bullish sentiment. The market has surged 78.97 percent over the past year, and it is up 15.47 percent year-to-date after an IMF loan program helped the government avert a debt default last summer.
The KSE-100 Index traded in a range of 674.45 points, showing an intraday high of 75,115.32 points and a low of 74,440.87 points. The total volume of the KSE-100 index was 251.46 million shares.
Out of the KSE-100 Index companies, 38 closed up, 55 closed down, six were unchanged, while 1 remained untraded. The index was supported by commercial banks (370 points), automobile parts & accessories (34 points), food & personal care products (22 points), fertilizer (13 points), and cement (9 points).
On the flip-side, the index was let down by pharmaceuticals (64 points), oil & gas marketing companies (43 points), oil & gas exploration companies (42 points), leather & tanneries (36 points), and power generation & distribution (27 points).
The companies adding points to the index were BAHL (103 points), UBL (93 points), MEBL (71 points), MCB (46 points), and EFERT (38 points).
Meanwhile, companies that dragged the index lower were PPL (51 points), SRVI (37 points), HINOON (33 points), ENGRO (29 points), and PSO (22 points).
In the broader market, the All-Share Index closed at 48,463.97 with a net gain of 152.25 points. Total market volume was 572.42 million shares compared to 574.18m from the previous session while traded value was recorded at Rs25.95 billion showing an increase of Rs2.51 billion. There were 283,483 trades reported in 381 companies with 147 companies closing up, 213 closing down and 21 companies remaining unchanged. – TLTP