KARACHI: Pakistan Stock Exchange (PSX) turned bullish on Wednesday after Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz and Pakistan People’s Party reached an agreement on forming the government, with the benchmark KSE-100 Index gaining 1,094.91 points (+1.81 percent) to close at 61,559.15 points.
The analysts attributed the gains to consensus over the formation of the government. After multiple rounds of talks, an agreement was reached on Tuesday between the PML-N and the PPP to share power in order to form the next government. The agreement ended 10 days of intense negotiations after an inconclusive general election did not return a clear majority.
Mohammed Sohail, CEO of Topline Securities, in a note said that the early-session buying rally came “after news that two political parties reached agreement for government formation.” In the second half of the trading session, the market resorted to profit-taking, taking the benchmark to an intra-day low of 60,906.98.
However, last-hour buying again pushed the benchmark index higher, helping it settle at 61,559.15.
The new government would need to secure a larger and longer International Monetary Fund (IMF) loan program to meet its high debt obligations. The post-election losses have now been trimmed to 2,585 points or 4 percent with this gain.
The benchmark index traded in a range of 713.88 points, showing an intraday high of 61,620.85 points and an intraday low of 60,906.97 points. Among other indices, the KSE All Share Index gained 653.91 points (+1.58 percent) to close at 41,390.48 points.
Similarly, the KMI All Share Islamic Index gained 537.64 points (+1.80 percent) to close at 29,824.43 points.
Total volumes traded for the KSE-100 Index remained 210.58 million shares, while the overall market volumes remained 362.77 million shares. Among scrips, BOP topped the volumes with 35.44 million shares, followed by KEL (28.62 million) and WTL (21.43 million). Stocks that contributed significantly to the volumes included BOP, KEL, WTL, CNERGY, and SEARL, which formed over 33 percent of total volumes.
A total of 345 companies traded shares in the stock exchange, out of which shares of 240 closed up, shares of 84 companies closed down while shares of 21 companies remained unchanged. A total of 92 companies traded shares in the KSE-100 Index, out of which share prices of 76 companies closed up and 16 companies closed down. The number of total trades remained 165,841, while the value traded remained Rs12.49 billion.
In terms of rupee, INDU remained the top gainer with an increase of Rs53.66 (+3.59 percent) per share, closing at Rs1,548.08. The runner-up remained MARI, the share price of which climbed up by Rs45.11 (+2.09 percent) to Rs2,202.46. PSEL remained the top loser with a decrease of Rs50 (-5.75 percent) per share, closing at Rs820, followed by THALL, the share price of which fell by Rs9.46 (-3.5 percent) to close at Rs260.54 per share.
The major sectors taking the index towards north remained oil & gas exploration companies (192 points), commercial banks (189 points), cement (163 points), technology and communication (112 points), pharmaceutical (108 points), fertilizer (81 points), oil & gas marketing companies (73 points), automobile assemblers (50 points), power generation and distribution (47 points), and refinery (33 points).
Major companies adding points to the index remained OGDC (82 points), LUCK (69 points), PPL (60 points), UBL (57 points), and TRG (54 points).
The major sectors taking the index towards south remained textile composite (19 points), miscellaneous (12 points), and automobile parts and accessories (10 points). Major companies depriving the index of points remained PSEL (30 points), ILP (21 points), AKBL (14 points), PKGP (12 points), and THALL (11 points). – TLTP