KSE-100 ticks up, surpasses 46,000-point mark

• KSE-100 index gains 139.72 points to settle at 46,079.37.
• Investors rejoiced appreciation in Pakistani rupee.
• Shares of 358 companies were traded during today's session.

KARACHI: The Pakistan Stock Exchange (PSX) recovered some of the losses incurred a day earlier on the last trading day of the week on Friday with the benchmark KSE-100 index gaining 140 points as positive macros helped the index once again surpass the 46,000-point mark.

Investors rejoiced the appreciation in Pakistani rupee against the US dollar and stable economic situation in the country.

Earlier, trading kicked off with a brief rally where cherry-picking by investors helped the market to climb at a steady pace. After midday, the index offloaded some of the gains mainly on the back of dismal financial results.

At the close, the benchmark KSE-100 index gained 139.72 points, or 0.30%, to settle at 46,079.37 points.

Arif Habib Limited in its post-market commentary noted the market stayed range-bound today as sustainability concerns arose over psychological level of 46,000.

The cement sector stayed under pressure due to higher international coal prices. Meanwhile, Pakistan State Oil (PSO) stayed under pressure due to zero payout (cash dividend or bonus) in the financial result.

“Index level of 46,000 was unable to digest by the investors as profit-taking was observed across the board in the last trading hour,” it said, adding that main board activity remained gloomy.

On the flip-side, activity continued to remain side-ways as market witnessed hefty volumes in the third tier stocks.

Sectors contributing to the performance included banks (+121.6 points), miscellaneous (+26.8 points), automobile (+21.3 points), cement (+18 points) and technology (+17.7 points).

Shares of 358 companies were traded during the session. At the close of trading, 143 scrips closed in the green, 195 in the red, and 20 remained unchanged.

Overall trading volumes plunged to 170.62 million shares compared with Thursday’s tally of 285.96 million. The value of shares traded during the day was Rs7.72 billion.

K-Electric was the volume leader with 11.98 million shares traded, gaining Rs0.16 to close at Rs3.42. It was followed by WorldCall Telecom with 11.42 million shares traded, losing Rs0.03 to close at Rs2.15, and TRG Pakistan with 11.22 million shares traded, gaining Rs0.91 to close at Rs85.14.