The equities market started the week on a high note, boosted by anticipation of a Saudi delegation visiting to explore investment opportunities in the mineral, mining, and refinery sectors, as well as assurances from the army chief to improve transparency in dollar exchange and interbank rates, which boosted investor confidence.
According to a Topline Securities study, the market’s comeback can be linked to positive events emanating from the army chief’s recent discussion with business leaders in Lahore.
The benchmark KSE-100 index closed at 45,707.42, up 394.77 points or 0.87 percent.
Ahsan Mehanti, Managing Director and CEO of Arif Habib Commodities linked the market’s uptrend to discussions about the proposed $100 billion SIFC investments and a slowing in CPI-based inflation to 27.4 percent in August.
“The army chief’s assurances regarding transparency in dollar exchange and interbank rates, bringing exchange companies under the tax net to mitigate rupee instability, and the surge in global crude oil prices all played a catalytic role in the bullish activity,” he added.
Fertiliser, Exploration, and Production (E&P), and chemical stocks added 155 points to the index, led by Engro Corp, Hub Power, Pakistan Petroleum, Colgate Palmolive, and Fauji FertiliserFC. Bank Alfalah, Indus Motor, and Archroma Pakistan, on the other hand, each lost 28 points.
Al Shaheer Corp topped the charts with 11.2 million shares, while the overall market saw 138 million shares traded for Rs4.4 billion.
Colgate Palm (Rs31.31), Al-Abbas Sugar (Rs23.98), Attock Refinery (Rs13.40), Shahmurad Sugar (Rs12.09), and Atlas Honda (Rs11.01) had the greatest rises in share prices.
Mehmood Textiles (Rs47.55), Archroma Pak (Rs27.58), Philip Morris (Rs27), JDW Sugar Mills (Rs25), and Indus Motors (Rs23.98) had the highest drops.
Al-Shaheer Corp (11.26m shares), WorldCall Telecom (11.21m shares), Dewan Motors (8.84m shares), Cnergyico PK (8.42m shares), and Pak Refinery (6.73m shares) all contributed considerably to the trading volume.
187 scrips increased, 105 sank, and 21 remained steady among the 313 active scrips.
