KARACHI: The Pakistan Stock Exchange Thursday ended positive for the 11th successive session near the 42,000-point barrier.
At close, the KSE-100 Index ended with a gain of 364.44 points or 0.91% to finish at 41908.71. Profit-taking and resistance near the 42,000 level meant the index was unable to move past 41,995.66 – its intra-day high.
Stocks opened positive and carried on with their positive momentum with auto, cement, fertiliser and banking sectors hogging the limelight. Oil and gas marketing companies closed negative on disappointing numbers of furnace oil production for December.
K-Electric was the volume leader with 34.06 million shares changing hands, followed by Pakistan Telecommunication Company (11.35 million), and Engro Polymer (10.16 million).
Overall, trading volume decreased to 222.35 million shares on Thursday. The value of shares traded during the day was Rs8.6 billion.
Earlier, the stocks started day on bullish note and added 180 points to reach 41724 level in early trading. The Pakistan Stock Exchange remained bullish till midday as the benchmark 100-index added 250 points to take the tally to 41794 level.
On Wednesday, the market remained volatile as KSE 100-index traded between a wide range of 41,289 points to 41,820 points and finally closed at 57 points higher at 41,544 points.
On the news front, the State Bank of Pakistan has allowed Pakistani and Chinese enterprises to trade in Chinese Yuan (CNY). Investors’ interest was witnessed in the E&P sector as crude oil prices remained at higher levels in the international market, where POL (up 1.4%), PPL (1.4%) and OGDC (1.5%) closed in the green zone.
Scrips that contributed positively included OGDC that added 32 points, PPL 30 points, POL 19 points, KEL 15 points, and SNGP that contributed 14 points to the index gain.
Stocks that contributed negatively include NESTLE that shed 27 points, HBL 24 points, KTML 11 points, PMPK 10 points and ABOT that took away 9 points from the index.
Stocks that contributed significantly to the volumes included KEL, BOP, TRG, WTL and FCCL contributing a total of 92m shares, reflecting 39% share of total volumes.