KARACHI: The Pakistan Stock Exchange (PSX) ended the week on a positive note on Friday, with the benchmark KSE-100 index gaining over 200 points.
The index oscillated between red and green zones as certain sectors experienced selling pressure. Investors were concerned over the subdued economic growth and corporate result announcements, which prevented the market from advancing further. Earlier, trading began on a positive note, however, the bourse failed to sustain the momentum and the first session remained largely range-bound. The index still managed to end the session with gains.
At the close, the benchmark KSE-100 index gained 234.77 points, or 0.52%, to settle at 45,675.87 points. Arif Habib Limited in its post-market commentary noted that the market witnessed positive momentum along with improved trading volumes today due to a decline in crude oil prices.
“After the approval of two new bills by the Senate about the gas sector — Oil and Gas Regulatory Authority (Amendment) Bill, 2022 and Weighted Average Cost of Gas (WACOG) Bill —Sui Northern Gas Pipelines, Sui Southern Gas Company, Oil and Gas Development Company, Pakistan Petroleum and Pakistan State Oil closed in the green zone,” the brokerage house stated.
Meanwhile, in the banking sector, the Bank of Punjab remained in the limelight as it announced financial results declaring 12.5% bonus shares and earnings per share beating market expectations. Sectors contributing to the performance included banks (+47.4 points), fertiliser (+36.3 points), oil marketing companies (+34.2 points), exploration and production (+31.6 points) and cement (+28.3 points).
Shares of 333 companies were traded during the session. At the close of trading, 179 scrips closed in the green, 131 in the red, and 23 remained unchanged. Overall trading volumes rose to 152.9 million shares compared with Thursday’s tally of 152.86 million. The value of shares traded during the day was Rs4.31 billion.
Bank of Punjab was the volume leader with 60.3 million shares traded, losing Rs0.10 to close at Rs8.26. It was followed by Soneri Bank with 16.35 million shares traded, gaining Rs0.02 to close at Rs10.50, and Tele card with 11.1 million shares traded, losing Rs0.10 to close at Rs15.99.
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