PSX reverses bearish trend, surpasses 44,000-barrier once again

• PSX witnessed lowest daily volumes after June 19, 2020.
  
• KSE-100 index gains 183.02 points to close at 44,111.10 points.
• Shares of 324 companies were traded during the session.
  

sKARACHI: KARACHI: After receding for two successive days, the benchmark KSE-100 index of the Pakistan Stock Exchange (PSX) reversed its trend on Wednesday and once again surpassed the 44,000-point mark in topsy-turvy trading.

The bourse faced selling pressure at regular intervals amid a lack of positive triggers and deafening political noise.

The PSX witnessed the lowest daily volumes after June 19, 2020. PSX witnessed a 22 months low volume amid Ramadan factor and political uncertainty, decreasing 5% day-on-day to 143 million shares.

Investors cheered the confirmation from the International Monetary Fund (IMF) that the institution will continue to support Pakistan after the “new government is formed.”

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The KSE-100 index opened up and continued to rise during the day as market participants remained optimistic. However, selling pressure emerged after mid-day, which wiped off some of the gains. Nevertheless, the KSE-100 managed to close in the green with some gains.

Today, the benchmark KSE-100 index gained 183.02 points, or 0.42%,  to close at 44,111.10 points.

A report from Arif Habib Limited in its post-market commentary noted that a positive day was observed at PSX. The benchmark KSE-100 index remained in the green zone throughout the day, activity remained sideways due to political unrest and devaluation of the Pakistani rupee against the US Dollar.

“Value buying was observed in the fertiliser sector. In the last trading hour, across the board profit-taking was witnessed,” the brokerage house added.

Sectors contributing to the performance include fertiliser (+64.4 points), banks (+36 points), technology and communications (+30.8 points), power (+28.7 points) and investment banks (+25.3 points).

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Shares of 324 companies were traded during the session. At the close of trading, 190 scrips closed in the green, 104 in the red, and 30 remained unchanged.

Overall trading volumes dropped to 108.41 million shares compared with Tuesday’s tally of 115.64 million. The value of shares traded during the day was Rs4.27 billion.

Treet Corporation was the volume leader with 13.43 million shares traded, gaining Rs0.94 to close at Rs32.71. It was followed by Telecard Limited with 11.96 million shares traded, gaining Rs0.34 to close at Rs14.55 and Engro Polymer and Chemical with 5.56 million shares traded, gaining Rs2.51 to close at Rs75.15.