Stock market regains 75,000 level in the volatile session

KARACHI: Pakistan Stock Exchange (PSX) turned positive on Thursday and regained the 75,000 points level, with the benchmark KSE-100 Index gaining 157.80 points (+0.21 percent) to close at 75,114.47 points.
The market opened on a slight positive note but remained volatile amid cautious trading and the indices swayed both ways during trading before closing in the green. After touching record highs in recent weeks, the market has turned in a cautious performance as investors look for fresh positive triggers ahead of the monetary policy meeting and budget announcement. The benchmark index has surged by 82.76 percent during the last one year and 16.17 percent during the current year. The KSE-100 closed below 75,000 a session earlier as the index faced some late-session profit-taking to lose over 250 points.
“Positive sentiments brewed at the PSX. Indices oscillated between both directions until finally closing in green. Volume rose compared to the preceding day,” brokerage house Capital Stake said in its post-market report. Sectors driving the KSE 100 forward included power generation and distribution, oil and gas exploration, and oil and gas marketing, the brokerage house said.
The benchmark index traded in a range of 558.68 points showing an intraday high of 75,284.74 points and a low of 74,726.06 points.
The total volume of the KSE-100 index remained 336.88 million shares. Interestingly, most of the volume was seen in the final hour of trading, with the index settling at 75,114.47.
Out of the KSE-100 Index companies, 51 closed up, 44 closed down, two were unchanged, while three remained untraded. The KSE-100 Index was supported by power generation & distribution (98 points), oil & gas exploration companies (81 points), oil & gas marketing companies (21 points), tobacco (16 points),cement (15 points), food and personal care products (14 points), insurance (11 points), fertilizer (8 points), and technology and communication (6 points).
On the flip-side, the index was let down by commercial banks (44 points), automobile assembler (13 points), automobile parts & accessories (10 points), synthetic & rayon (8 points), and investment banks/ investment companies/ securities companies (6 points).
The companies adding points to the index were OGDC (78 companies), KEL (40 companies), PKGP (29 points), FFC (27 points), HUBC (26 points), SCPBL (18 points), PAKT (16 points), SEARL (14 points), BAHL (13 points), and PSO (12 points).
On the other hand, the companies that dragged the index lower were MCB (50 points), UBL (44 points), ENGRO (14 points), POL (12 points), THALL and LUCK (10 points each), MEBL (9 points), IBFL (8 points), and MTL and DAWH (7 points each).
In the broader market, the All-Share index closed at 48,716.55 with a net gain of 233.82 points. Total market volume was 758.94 million shares compared to 584.48 million in the previous session while traded value was recorded at Rs16.71 billion showing a decrease of Rs1.1 billion. There were 227,775 trades reported in 374 companies with 191 closing up, 155 closing down and 28 remaining unchanged. – TLTP