- KSE-100 index surges 810.66 points to settle at 43,853.62.
- Investors observed cherry-picking stocks that had dropped to attractive valuations.
- Shares of 356 companies were traded during the session.
KARACHI: The bulls made a spectacular comeback at the Pakistan Stock Exchange (PSX) on Thursday, as the benchmark KSE-100 index managed to gain over 800 points.
Investors were observed cherry-picking stocks that had dropped to attractive valuations during the bearish spell at the bourse observed earlier during the week.
Earlier, the market endured across-the-board profit-taking owing to multiple negative triggers including the war between Russia and Ukraine, inflationary pressure in the country and an increase in global crude oil prices.
Moreover, fresh depreciation of the rupee against the US dollar also dented the confidence of market players earlier.
However, investors assumed fresh positions as global oil prices fell by the most in nearly two years after OPEC member the United Arab Emirates said it supported pumping more into a market roiled by supply disruptions due to sanctions on Russia after it invaded Ukraine.
At the close, the benchmark KSE-100 index surged 810.66 points, or 1.88%, to settle at 43,853.62 points.
Arif Habib Limited in its post-market commentary noted that the market opened upwards and stayed in the green zone throughout the day due to a decline in international commodity prices.
“Moreover, investors opted for an accumulation across the board especially in the cement stocks,” it said, adding that volumes remained dull.
The benchmark KSE 100 index closed 810 points up, value buying was observed in the last trading hour.
Sectors contributing to the performance included cement (+217.5 points), commercial banks (+199.4 points), technology (+128.1 points), automobile assembler (+41.5 points) and textile composite (+33.6 points).
Shares of 356 companies were traded during the session. At the close of trading, 242 scrips closed in the green, 95 in the red, and 19 remained unchanged.
Overall trading volumes rose to 271.90 million shares compared with Wednesday’s tally of 183.70 million. The value of shares traded during the day was Rs7.49 billion.
Pak Elektron was the volume leader with 35 million shares traded, losing Rs0.80 to close at Rs2.52. It was followed by TPL Properties with 23.45 million shares traded, gaining Rs0.24 to close at Rs23.72, and WorldCall Telecom Limited with 22.92 million shares traded, losing Rs0.01 to close at Rs1.69.
