Karachi – Trading at the Pakistan Stock Exchange (PSX) ended on a positive note on Thursday, with both the major benchmark indices closing with significant gains on strong investor interest and buying in various sectors. Business activity in the market remained good while buying in selected companies by big investors further strengthened the overall environment.
According to official market data, the KSE-100 index closed at 181,776.60 points after gaining 1,761.66 points or 0.98 percent. The index touched a high of 182,007.04 points and a low of 180,626.93 points during the trading session. The total volume of shares included in the index was recorded at 345.78 million shares, while the index saw a growth of 4.44 percent since the beginning of the calendar year and 0.82 percent since the beginning of the financial year.
Similarly, the KMI-30 index also showed a strong performance, increasing by 2,587.38 points or 1.02% to close at 256,134.77 points. The index touched a high of 256,527.11 points and a low of 254,477.93 points during the day. The volume of shares of companies included in the KMI-30 was 127.57 million, while the index recorded a growth of 3.06% on a calendar year-to-date basis.
UBL, MARI, FFC, LUCK and BAHL supported the KSE-100 index the most in the positive performance of the market, while MARI, LUCK, FFC, ENGROH and MLCF played a significant positive role in the KMI-30. On the other hand, a few stocks including MEBL, FABL, SNGP, PSO and PSX had a limited negative impact, however, it did not have a significant impact on the overall trend.
According to market observers, the continued investor confidence, continued buying in major sectors and improvement in trading volume have provided a positive direction to the market. They say that if economic indicators and corporate results remain as expected, investors’ focus may remain on the equity market in the coming sessions. However, the future direction of the market will also depend on factors such as global financial conditions, interest rates and international commodity prices.
The recent performance of the Pakistan Stock Exchange reflects that investors are still primarily interested in strong companies, while balanced buying in various sectors is supporting market confidence.