KSE-100 gains 127 points on lower T-bill yields

KARACHI: The Pakistan bourse closed on a positive note on Thursday as investors cheered Wednesday’s T-Bill auction amid a decline of 15 to 27 basis points in cut-off yields, dealers said.

Ahsan Mehanti at Arif Habib Corp said that stocks closed bullish amid the fall in the government T-bill yields by 68bps.

“Mid-session pressure remained on political protests and a slump in the global equities. However, a record surge in the global crude oil prices and hopes of a positive International Monetary Fund (IMF) board review and release of tranche under Extended Fund Facility (EFF) played a catalytic role in the bullish close,” he added.

The Pakistan Stock Exchange KSE-100 shares Index gained 0.28 per cent, or 127.99 points, to close at 45,083.04 points. The KSE-30 shares Index gained 0.51 per cent, or 89.79 points, to close at 17,828.1 points.

As many as 333 scrips were active of which 135 advanced, 169 declined and 29 remained unchanged.

The ready market volumes stood at 173.59 million shares, compared with the turnover of 137.3 million shares in the last trading session.

Neelam Naz at JS global Capital said that the Index mainly recovered because of TRG Pakistan, Hub Power (HUBC), Mari Petroleum (MARI) and Allied Bank (ABL).

“Going forward, we recommend investors to book profits in the range of 45,300 to 45,500 and wait for the political dust to settle to take any fresh buying positions.”

The companies which reflected the highest gains, included Sapphire Fiber up Rs48.98 to close at Rs860.98/share, and Pak Services up Rs41 to close at Rs1,650/share.

The companies which reflected the most losses, included Unilever Foods down Rs134 to close at Rs22,275/share and Colgate Palmolive down Rs66 to close at Rs2,400/share.

The highest volumes were witnessed in TRG Pakistan with a turnover of 19.12 million shares. The scrip gained Rs4.64 to close at Rs85.93/share, followed by Hum Network with a turnover of 15.24 million shares, gaining 22 paisas to close at Rs6.96/share. Unity Foods remained the third with a turnover of 11.7 million shares. It gained Rs1.08 to finish at Rs28.59/share.