Stocks gain 206 points ahead of results announcements

KARACHI: The Pakistan Stock Exchange (PSX) closed the week on a bullish note, amid lower turnover, as the investors stayed away from making new bets ahead of the Eid holidays and the corporate results announcement season, dealers said.

Ahsan Mehanti at Arif Habib Corp said that the stocks closed bullish led by selected scrips across-the-board, amid speculations ahead of the major earnings announcements due next week.

“[The] mid-session pressure remained on falling global crude oil prices and foreign outflows. Surge in [the] local petroleum products prices, stock brokers’ petition stay over scrips, excluding future eligibility criteria and speculations on [the] likely resolution of [the] circular debt crisis played a catalytic role in [the] bullish close.”

The Pakistan Stock Exchange KSE-100 shares index gained 0.43 per cent, or 206.07 points, to close at 47,834.33 points. The KSE-30 shares index gained 0.48 per cent, or 91.36 points, to close at 19,210.35 points.

As many as 412 scrips were active, of which 255 advanced, 133 declined and 24 remained unchanged. The ready market volumes stood at 348.57 million shares, compared with the turnover of 506.29 million shares in the last trading session.

An analyst at Arif Habib Limited said the market remained positive in both the sessions.

“[The] technology sector also contributed positively to the index, with Systems Limited and AVN Technologies hitting [the] upper circuits and closing at high note. [The] sector wise textile, cement, steel and banking stocks traded in the positive zone.”

Muhammad Mubashar at JS Global Capital said that after a week of range-bound sessions, the bulls finally made a comeback on Friday, as the market made an intraday high of +261 points, closing at 47,834 level.

“Investors’ interest was witnessed in Lucky Cement, up 2.5 per cent, on the back of material information that Lucky Motors has entered into an agreement with [the] Samsung Gulf Electronics to produce smartphones in Pakistan.”

Going forward, the range-bound activity cannot be ruled out in the trading sessions around the Eid holidays.

The companies, which reflected the highest gains included Nestle Pakistan, up Rs84.99 to close at Rs5,900/share; and Premium Textile, up Rs27.76 to close at Rs433.76/share.

The companies that reflected the most losses included Unilever Foods, down Rs489 to close at Rs16,000/share; and Bata Pakistan, down Rs20 to end at Rs1,680/share.

The highest volumes were witnessed in TPL Corp with a turnover of 29.69 million shares. The scrip gained 66 paisas to close at Rs25.13/share; followed by Al Shaheer Corporation with a turnover of 17.75 million shares. It gained 67 paisas to close at Rs21.01/share. Treet Corp was the third with a turnover of 17.09 million shares. It gained Rs1.43 to finish at Rs60.89.

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