Stocks rose on Wednesday, led by energy and cement shares, although gains were capped by fears over an expected subsidy withdrawal in planned mini-budget, dealers said.
The Pakistan Stock Exchange's (PSX) benchmark KSE 100-share Index closed up 216.37 points or 0.49 percent to 44,260.11 points against 44,043.74 points recorded in the last session. The highest index of the day remained at 44,267.20 points while the lowest level of the day was recorded at 43,945.28 points.
KSE-30 index also increased by 80.05 points or 0.46 percent to 17,368.84 points against 17,288.79 points.
Traded shares increased by 128 million shares to 271.11 million shares from 143.44 million shares. The trading value rose to Rs8.15 billion from Rs4.98 billion.
Market capital slightly expanded to Rs7.592 trillion from Rs7.551 trillion. Out of 361 companies active in the session, 199 posted gains, 141 losses while 21 remained unchanged.
Analyst Ahsan Mehanti at Arif Habib Corp said stocks closed higher led by oil and cement scrips on surge in global crude oil prices and upbeat data on cement exports in November.
Global 0il prices held close to $80 a barrel on Wednesday as global supply outages and declining U.S. inventories offset worries that rising coronavirus cases might reduce demand.
Brent crude rose to as much as $79.20 a barrel before retreating to trade 24 cents down on the day at $78.70. U.S. West Texas Intermediate (WTI) crude edged 32 cents lower to $75.65 after touching $76.17.
Muhammad Arbash, an analyst at Topline Securities said market traded in a rangebound trajectory, however, last hour market made a positive momentum making an intraday high of 221 points.
TRG and PSO contributed the most points in the benchmark index.
Further investors’ interest was also witnessed in refineries and pharma sectors where NRL, ATRL, SEARL, and AGP closed higher.
The highest increase was recorded in shares of Bata Pakistan, which rose by Rs119.99 to Rs2,099.99/share, followed by Sapphire Textile that increased by Rs66.26 to Rs998/share. A major decline was noted in shares of Nestle Pakistan, which fell by Rs50 to Rs5,450/share, followed by Millat Tractors that decreased by R20.23 to Rs854.01/share.
Muhammad Mubashir, an analyst at JS Research, said the market was a rollercoaster ride.
“Bourse touched a high and low level of 44,265 and 43,941, respectively. Significant interest was witnessed in the refinery sector stocks ATRL (7.3 percent), PRL (8.0 percent), and NRL (7.5 percent) on the back of discussion on new refining policy by the govt and refinery companies' managements,” he said.
“Going forward, we expect range-bound activity to continue and recommend investors to avail any downside as an opportunity to buy in the cement and banking sectors.”
Cnergyico PK remained the volume leader with 47.42 million shares with an increase of 58 paisas to Rs6.89/share. It was followed by WorldCall Telecom with 14.75 million shares that closed higher by 2 paisas to Rs2.05/share.
Stocks that recorded significant turnover included K-Electric Ltd., TRG Pak Ltd, D.S. Ind. Ltd., Pak Refinery, Hascol Petrol, Azgard Nine, F. Nat. Equities and Fauji Foods Ltd.
Shares’ turnover in the future contracts decreased to 164.09 million shares from 184.85 million shares.