KSE-100 closes flat ahead of long Eid holidays

KARACHI: The Pakistan Stock Exchange (PSX) closed flat on Thursday before the long Eid holidays. The benchmark KSE-100 index slightly increased by 34 points in a range-bound session with thin volumes, where investors opted for a cautious approach.

The Pakistan Stock Exchange’s (PSX) benchmark KSE 100 Index increased by 34.43 points, or 0.03 per cent, to 117,806.75 points, up from 117,772.31 points recorded in the last session. The highest index of the day remained at 118,147.25 points, while the lowest level was recorded at 117,551.42 points.

Muhammad Hasan Ather, an analyst at JS Global, said that range-bound activity with thin volumes was observed on the last trading day ahead of the long Eid holidays, as investors preferred to stay on the sidelines. “Moving forward, we advise investors to adopt a ‘buy on dips’ strategy, focusing on the oil and gas, cement and technology sectors,” he suggested.

Stocks closed bullish after the IMF reached a staff-level agreement to unlock $1.3 billion under the Resilience and Sustainability Facility (RSF) and $1 billion under the existing $7 billion Extended Fund Facility (EFF) bailout programme. Additionally, the government lowered its March 2025 inflation forecast to 1.0 per cent.

Rising global crude oil prices and an updated feasibility study confirming $60 billion in Reko Diq reserves, with a share for OGDC and PPL, served as key catalysts for the bullish close at the PSX, he said.

The KSE-30 index increased by 50.36 points 0.14 per cent to 36,346.67 points against 36,296.31 points.

Traded shares dropped by 27 million shares to 329.99 million shares against 356.729 million shares. The trading value decreased to Rs19.775 billion from Rs37.498 billion. Market capital expanded to Rs14.374 trillion against Rs14.364 trillion. Of the 447 companies active in the session, 169 closed in green, 216 in red and 62 remained unchanged.

Analyst Nabeel Haroon at Topline Securities said lacklustre activity was observed on the last trading session before the long holiday session.

Major positive contribution to the index came from UBL, HUBC, MCB, MEBL and LUCK, as they cumulatively contributed 55 points to the index. On the flip side, SYS, FFC, PPL, MARI and NBP lost value to weigh down on the index by 29 points

Traded value-wise PSO (Rs11.18 million), MARI (Rs3.04 million), HUBC (Rs3.02 million), PPL (Rs2.07 million) and MLCF (Rs1.49 million) dominated the trading activity.

The highest increase was recorded in Philip Morris (Pakistan) Limited, which rose by Rs73.78 to Rs811.55 per share, followed by Hoechst Pakistan Limited, which increased by Rs48.63 to Rs3,242.50 per share. A significant decline was noted in Sapphire Fibres Limited, which fell by Rs20.39 to Rs1,101 per share; Premium Textile Mills Limited followed it, which closed lower by Rs18.88 to Rs420.51 per share.

Analyst Ahsan Mehanti at Arif Habib Corp said the stock market remained largely unchanged due to two main factors. First, the yield on government treasury bonds rose to 12.38 per cent. Second, Pakistan’s economic growth for the October–December 2024 quarter was reported at 1.7 per cent by the National Accounts Committee (NAC), falling significantly short of the government’s 3.6 per cent target for the 2024-25 financial year.

He said that reports of IMF approval on industrial tariff reduction and institutional support on IMF deal at the quarter-end close played a catalyst role in the bullish close at the PSX.

Cnergyico PK remained the volume leader with 45.500 million shares, which closed higher by 26 paisas to Rs8.26 per share. Arif Habib Corp, with 20.574 million shares, followed it, which closed higher by 61 paisas to Rs11.58 per share.

Other significant turnover stocks included WorldCall Telecom, Fauji Cement, B.O. Punjab XD, Pak Elektron, Maple Leaf, K-Electric Ltd., Pak Int Bulk and TRG Pak Ltd.In the futures market, 318 companies recorded trading, 102 of which increased, 212 decreased and 4 remained unchanged.