Stocks market on Friday rose half a percent to close at the all-time high of 40,340.23-point levels as bulls took fresh positions in the blue-chips ahead of an extended holidays commencing next week, dealers said.
Analyst Ali Raza at Elixir Securities said equities closed at the new all-time high on the last working day before three-day Eid holidays next week as bulls kept firm control over the market.
“Stocks opened positive with the index heavy oils, leading early gains as investors tracked overnight rise in the global crude with Pakistan Oilfields (up 2.3 percent) topping the leaders’ board and trading at the highest level since November 2014,” Raza said.
The Pakistan Stock Exchange’s (PSX) benchmark 100-share Index closed up 0.51 percent or 203.30 points to 40,340.23 points. The highest index of the day remained at 40,422.13 points, while the lowest level of the day was recorded at 40,136.93 points.
KSE 30-share Index was up 0.04 percent or 8.15 points to 22,755.17 points. Turnover increased 72 million shares to 637.59 million shares. Trading value inched up to Rs16.24 billion as against Rs16.19 billion. Market capital expanded to Rs8.11 trillion from Rs8.05 trillion. Out of 444 companies, 310 ended up, 113 closed down and 21 remained unchanged.
“We see the benchmark to test the record highs during the upcoming short trading week with cements and industrials possibly leading, while financials will continue to track flows,” Raza said.
Industrials and consumer plays led both the gains and volumes with retail favourite Bank of Punjab (up 10.74 percent) and Sui Southern Gas (five percent) closing at the upper price limit. The Bank of Punjab contributed most to the volumes as investors bet on improvement in its operations in the near-term.
Meanwhile, cements and financials both traded mixed with the select cement plays closing in black, while large-cap financials erased all the intra-day gains and closing in red.
Analyst Ahsan Mehanti at Arif Habib Corp said stocks closed the all-time high led by auto, cement and textile scrips on strong earnings outlook.
Subdued political noise, higher global crude prices, rising cotton prices and upbeat sales data in the cement, oil sector played a catalyst role in the bullish close ahead of Eid Holidays, Mehanti said.
Highest increase was recorded in Rafhan Maize XD. Its share price rose Rs277 to Rs7,599/share, followed by Nestle Pakistan XD that increased Rs200 to Rs7,600/share. Major decrease was registered in Pak Tobacco XD. Its share value fell Rs29.50 to Rs1,030/share, followed by Siemens Pak that decreased Rs20.84 to Rs842/share.
Significant turnover was recorded in stocks of Bank of Punjab, Dewan Salman, TRT Pak Ltd, Dewan Cement, Azgard Nine, Pervez Ahmed, Jahangir Siddiqui Co, WorldCall Telecom, Japan Power and Pace (Pak) Ltd.
Bank of Punjab remained the volume leader with 49.06 million shares with an increase of Re1.00 to Rs10.31/share. It was followed by Dewan Salman with 48.51 million shares with an increase of 79 paisas to Rs5.77/share.
Shares’ turnover in the future contracts rose to 50.28 million shares from 34.89 million shares traded in the previous session.