The Pakistan Stock Exchange (PSX) extended gains in a low-volume session for the second straight day on Wednesday, with the benchmark KSE-100 Index gaining 183.02 points (+0.42 percent) to close at 44,111.1 points.
The PSX opened on a positive note and remained positive throughout the session. Reports about deferment of over $2 billion debt payments by the United Arab Emirates provided a boost to the market.
Moreover, speculations over a positive verdict of the Supreme Court on the National Assembly speaker’s ruling of April 3, which led to a constitutional crisis-like situation in the country, also kept the indices in the green.
Though falling rupee, economic uncertainty and surging global crude oil prices kept the market in check, yet a surge in services exports by 18 percent during the first eight months (July-February) of the current fiscal year 2021-22 played a catalyst role in the bullish close. The KSE-100 Index moved in a range of 449.84 points, showing an intraday low of 43,928.08 points and a high of 44,377.92.
Among other indices, the KSE All Share Index gained 5.91 points (+0.02 percent) to close at 30,147.81 points, while KMI All Share Islamic Index gained 93.2 points (+0.43 percent) to close at 21,757.56 points.
A total of 338 companies traded shares in the stock exchange, out of them shares of 196 closed up, shares of 111 closed down while shares of 31 companies remained unchanged.
Out of 91 traded companies in the KSE-100 Index, 53 closed up, 32 closed down and six remained unchanged. The overall market volumes decreased by 7.23 million to 108.41 million shares. Total volumes traded for the KSE-100 Index decreased by 5.68 million to 47.01 million shares. The number of total trades decreased by 4,059 to 58,639, while the value traded decreased by Rs0.31 billion to Rs4.27 billion.
Among scrips, TREET topped the volumes with 13.43 million shares, followed by TELE (11.97 million) and EPCL (5.56 million). Stocks that contributed significantly to the volumes included TREET, TELE, EPCL, KEL and GGL, which formed around 38 percent of total volumes. TLTP
