Stock market turns bullish to gain 303 points Thursday

KARACHI: The Pakistan Stock Exchange (PSX) turned bullish on Thursday, with the benchmark KSE-100 Index gaining 303.20 points (+0.67 percent) to close at 45,398.31 points.
The market opened on a slight negative note but it reversed its course within minutes after opening and remained positive for the rest of the session. The Islamabad High Court (IHC) verdict on super tax was taken positively by the market wherein the court ruled to exclude certain incomes while calculating the income taxable to super tax, including income covered under final tax and adjustment of carry-forward business losses. “Super tax is held to be against the scheme of the Constitution and should either be read down or declared ultra vires,” the order reads.
The benchmark index traded in a range of around 383.69 points showing an intraday high of 45,451.64 points and an intraday low of 45,067.95 points. Among other indices, the KSE All Share Index gained 65.84 points (+0.22 percent) to close at 30,418.17 points, while KMI All Share Islamic Index gained 65.87 points (+0.30 percent) to close at 22,239.24 points.
Total volumes traded for the KSE-100 Index increased by 31.53 million shares to 157.39 million shares against 125.86 shares traded a session earlier. The overall market volumes increased by 220.8 million shares to 464.16 million shares against 243.36 million shares traded a session earlier.
Among scrips, WTL topped the volumes with 185.19 million shares, followed by BOP (19.5 million) and KEL (15.89 million). Stocks that contributed significantly to the volumes included WTL, BOP, KEL, TELE, and UNITY, which formed over 52 percent of total volumes.
A total of 344 companies traded shares in the stock exchange against 319 a session earlier, out of which shares of 227 closed up, shares of 90 closed down while shares of 27 companies remained unchanged. A total of 94 companies traded shares in the KSE-100 Index against 96 companies a session earlier, out of which share price of 69 companies closed up, 20 closed down and five remained unchanged. The number of total trades increased by 9,795 to 139,721 against 129,926 trades in the previous session, while the value traded increased by Rs0.70 billion to Rs10.1 billion.
In terms of rupee, SFL remained the top gainer and witnessed an increase of Rs61 (+4.94 percent) per share, closing at Rs1,295. The runner-up remained AABS, the share price of which climbed up by Rs29 (+6.03 percent) to Rs510. COLG remained the top loser in terms of rupee for the second straight day and witnessed a decrease of Rs112.38 (-7.5 percent) per share, closing at Rs1,386.05, followed by NESTLE, the share price of which fell by Rs100 (-1.47 percent) to close at Rs6,700 per share.
The sectors taking the index towards north were oil & gas exploration companies (94 points), commercial banks (58 points), fertilizer (52 points), cement (50 points), and oil & gas marketing companies (32 points). The major companies adding points to the index remained UBL (55 points), PPL (43 points), ENGRO (37 points), OGDC (27 points), and UNITY (20 points).
The sectors taking the index towards south were chemical (77 points), tobacco (12 points), investment banks/ investment companies/ securities companies (9 points), paper & board (5 points), and miscellaneous (1 point). The major companies depriving the index of points remained COLG (77 points), MCB (26 points), NESTLE (13 points), PAKT (12 points), and DAWH (6 points). – TLTP