KARACHI: The Pakistan equity market closed in a green zone on Thursday as the investors’ confidence was boosted by political clarity and the ongoing results’ season.
The Pakistan Stock Exchange KSE-100 shares Index gained 0.76 per cent, or 304 points, to close at 40,276.64 points. The KSE-30 shares Index gained 0.96 per cent, or 144.91 points, to close at 15,303.00 points.
An analyst at Topline Securities said that the market had a positive day as rumors regarding reconciliation among the political leadership especially on the economic front provided a breather to the struggling PSX.
“The KSE-100 Index initially opened on a positive note, however, a couple of corporate announcements with higher effective tax along with below expectation payout put pressure on the Index to eventually settle at 40,277 points,” he added.
Meanwhile, the Pakistani rupee maintained its downward trajectory against the dollar with the currency closing at Rs239.94 against the dollar in the interbank foreign exchange market.
As many as 344 scrips were active of which 215 advanced, 104 declined and 25 remained unchanged.
The ready market volumes stood at 251.27 million shares, compared with the turnover of 121.57 million shares in the last trading session.
The companies which reflected the highest gains included Bata (Pak) up Rs150 to close at Rs2,172/share, Mehmood Textile up Rs53.10 to close at Rs761.21/share.
The companies which reflected the most losses included Indus Motor down Rs74.68 to close at Rs951.42/share, and Premium Textile down Rs54.51 to close at Rs672.39/share.
The highest volumes were witnessed in WorldCall Telecom with a turnover of 32.61 million shares. The scrip shed 3 paisas to close at Rs1.15/share, followed by TPL Properties with a turnover of 20.37 million shares. It gained 69 paisas to close at Rs17.96/share. Lotte Chemical remained the third with a turnover of 16.95 million shares. It gained Rs1.73 to finish at Rs30.23/share.