Bulls return to PSX as Index gains 379 points

KARACHI: The Pakistan stocks remained in the positive trajectory due to the market consensus of an increase in the interest rate and investors’ interest mostly inclined to the banking sector, dealers said on Friday.

“The market will witness rollover next week. Going forward, we believe participants will continue to await clarity on [the] IMF [International Monetary Fund] programme,” Muhammad Waqar at JS Global Capital said.

The Pakistan Stock Exchange KSE-100 shares Index gained 0.82 per cent, or 378.91 points, to close at 46,489.41 points. The KSE-30 shares Index gained 0.8 per cent, or 142.75 points, to close at 18,037.74 points.

As many as 356 scrips were active, of which 215 advanced, 123 declined and 18 remained unchanged. The ready market volumes stood at 304.2 million shares, compared with the turnover of 263.5 million shares in the last trading session.

An analyst at Arif Habib Limited said the market mostly stayed in the green zone, mainly led by the banking sector.

“In the first session, positive momentum was observed, as investors became optimistic due to the large-scale manufacturing industries (LSMI) output number that increased 5.15 per cent in the first quarter (July-September) of the current fiscal year 2021/22, compared with the same period of the last fiscal year, as almost all the major manufacturing sectors posted growth.”

“In the second session, profit-booking was observed across-the-board after the current account deficit (CAD) number clocked-in at $1.7 billion during October 2021.”

On the institutional front, accumulation was witnessed in the banking stocks. Moving forward, the raise in the policy rate by 150 basis points to 8.75 per cent will create volatility in the upcoming rollover week.

The companies, which reflected the highest gains included Allawasaya Textile, up Rs189 to close at Rs2,714/share; and Colgate Palmolive, up Rs94.94 to close at Rs2,499.99/share.

The companies that reflected the most losses included Sapphire Textile, down Rs90.47 to close at Rs1115.92/share; and Gatron Industries, down Rs35 to close at Rs440/share.

The highest volumes were witnessed in Ghani Global with a turnover of 33.89 million shares. The scrip gained 45 paisas to close at Rs33.68/share; followed by Service Fabrics with a turnover of 17.8 million shares. It gained six paisas to close at Rs12.93/share. First National Equities remained the third with a turnover of 14.8 million shares. It gained Re1 to finish at Rs11.23.