KARACHI: The Pakistan Stock Exchange (PSX) Wednesday witnessed volatility and but managed to close buoyant after adding just 57.40 points to take the tally to 41544.27 level.
The stocks recorded the highest trading level of 41819.75 points and lowest level of 41289.17 points, with the volume of 233.60 million shares and value of Rs9.35 billion. As many as 370 companies were active; of which 160 advanced, 190 declined and 20 remained unchanged.
K-Electric Ltd was the volume leader with 47.37 million shares, adding Rs0.26 to reach Rs6.75. It was followed by BoP with 13.39 million shares, gaining Rs0.30 to end at Rs8.89 and TRG Pak Ltd with 11.26 million shares, shedding Rs0.72 to close at Rs28.98.
The top three gainers were Wyeth Pak Ltd with price per share of 1376.17 (65.53), Sanofi-Aventis with price per share of 1359 (61.33) and Pak Tobacco Ins of 2130 (22.42).
The top three losers were Nestle Pakistan with price per share of 10926.11 (-573.89), Philip Morris Pak with price per share of 3040 (-160) and ICI Pakistan share of 768.45 (-21.83).
Earlier, the stocks opened buoyant with 319 points to reach 41806 level in early trading. The PSX lost some points but remained in green zone till midday as the benchmark 100-idex added 97 points to reach 41584 level.
On Tuesday, the stocks continued its upward trajectory and the benchmark KSE 100-index surged by 776 points and an intra-day high of 856 points and finally closed at 41,487 points.
Despite US Commander-in-chief’s tweet ‘no more’ regarding US aid to Pakistan, KSE-100 extended gains for the 9th consecutive session. The Santa Clause rally which started on December 20 has boosted index by 9% or 3,567 points.
Last time, KSE-100 witnessed similar rally was from Dec 1-20, 2016 where market gained 11% or 4,588 points over 13 green sessions, commented Adnan Sami Sheikh at Topline Securities.
Top 10 index point contributors were HBL (up 3.3%), PPL (2.8%), UBL (2.9%), MCB (2.7%), OGDC (2.2%), LUCK (3.4%), POL (2.7%), MARI (4.4%), DGKC (4%) & BAHL (2.6%), adding 456 points to the index, whereas decliners were TRG (down 3.5%), SNGP (1.4%), NCPL (5%), ATLH (3.1%), SCBPL (3.8%), JLICL (1.8%), ABOT (1.1%), EFUG (1.3%), SSGC (0.9%) & PTC (1%); withholding only 44 points from the index.
Sector-wise, banks added 282 points, E&Ps 169 points, cement 134 points, ferts 59 points & power 30 points to the index. Participation is improving; volumes rose 94% d/d while traded value shot up 135% with over Rs10.5b exchanged.