Historic IT package lifts PSX

By
Business Desk
|
— AFP/File
— AFP/File

  • KSE-100 index gains 120.74 points to settle at 45,132.92. 
  • In a historic move, govt approved several incentives to facilitate the IT sector.
  • Shares of 348 companies were traded during the session.


KARACHI: The Pakistan Stock Exchange resumed its upward march on Wednesday aided by strong economic cues and the announcement of an incentive package for the IT and telecom sector by the government.

On Tuesday, in a historic move, the government approved several incentives to facilitate the information technology (IT) and IT-enabled services (ITeS) sectors, freelancers, and startups.

The announcement brought the technology stocks on the investors’ radar as they enticed fresh flows into the tech sector. 

The KSE-100 index spiked as soon as trading began, however, the momentum was broken as investors resorted to profit-booking that erased a few of the gains by the end of the session. Bullish investor spirits helped the index end the day on a positive note.

At the close, the benchmark KSE-100 index gained 120.74 points, or 0.27%, to settle at 45,132.92 points.

Benchmark KSE-100 index intra-day trading curve. — PSX data portal
Benchmark KSE-100 index intra-day trading curve. — PSX data portal

A report from Arif Habib Limited noted that the market remained volatile today due to political unrest and higher commodity prices.

“Cement sector remained under pressure due to higher international coal prices,” it said.

Sectors contributing to the performance included cement (+69.3 points), banks (+48 points), automobile assembler (+19.1 points), tobacco (+11.6 points) and technology (+11.4 points).

Shares of 348 companies were traded during the session. At the close of trading, 178 scrips closed in the green, 153 in the red, and 17 remained unchanged.

Overall trading volumes dropped to 186.35 million shares compared with Tuesday’s tally of 186.35 million. The value of shares traded during the day was Rs6.80 billion.

Bank of Punjab was the volume leader with 13.62 million shares traded, losing Rs0.15 to close at Rs7.80. It was followed by Telecard Limited with 12.29 million shares traded, gaining Rs0.59 to close at Rs15.34, and WorldCall Telecom with 0.02 million shares traded, gaining Rs0.02 to close at Rs11.55.