Syeda Masooma
PSX index showed a record breaking high at 43,206.33 points on Thursday.
It started at 30,564.5 points and then showed continuous improvement until it hit the all-time high, before turning its course back downwards and closing at 42,949.7 points. Total trade volume for the day was 140 million shares at the value of approximately Rs 180 million.
According to the Intermarket Securities Limited report, the market passed the barriers along the red zone and operated at a new all-time high. The report mentioned the resilience of the local investors as a major factor of today’s trading trends.
However the boom proved to be short lived and the stock market ended on rather unimpressive note offsetting most of the upward movement of the index. Still, the closing value for the index intraday gains did manage to report a fresh all-time high on the closing basis as well, the report informed. Another factor that can explain this improved performance could be the continued returns reaped by the MSCI’s upgrading status to the Pakistan Stock Exchange.
The report mentioned that the market participation was around 140 million shares which are around 5 million lesser than yesterday’s trading volume. Likewise, the Daily Traded Value came off by 5.75 per cent to clock in at $104.39 million. From value perspective, PACE ($7.4m), DGKC ($6.2m) and ENGRO ($6m) became the stocks with most traded value. Other players responsible for the upward index movement included Consumer Discretionary (+0.79 per cent), Consumer Staples (+0.60 per cent) and Materials (+0.47 per cent). NESTLE (+2.34 per cent), DGKC (+1.56 per cent), PPL (+0.70 per cent), LUCK (+0.54 per cent) and OGDC (+0.0.52 per cent) also became important positive players for the day by adding 61 points.
Many of these were also prominent for market participation including the retail favorites as majority of the trading activity happened with PACE (-0.56 per cent), ANL (+7.42 per cent), PIAA (+0.23 per cent), BOP (-0.16 per cent) and MDTL (+16.28 per cent). Combined these stocks churned approximately 180 million shares out of a little above 560 million shares traded at the All Share Index.
The report showed that cements continued to hold their spotlight, with DGKC (+1.56 per cent), LUCK (+0.54 per cent), CHCC (+3.24 per cent) and MLCF (+1.08 per cent) closing in green amid expectations of higher cement dispatches. Autos extended gains from the previous session on the back of weaker Yen with PSMC (+0.57 per cent), HCAR (+1.84 per cent), GHNI (+2.41 per cent) and GHNL (+5 per cent) all trading into green. Steel remained buoyant with ASTL (+5 per cent) and MUGHAL (+1.41 per cent) leading the pack while Textile remained on investor radar with GATM (+4.42 per cent), NML (+1.12 per cent), GADT (+5 per cent) and NCL (+3.80 per cent) outperforming the broader market.
The flipside of the story included refineries that remained under selling pressure while the banking sector also faced pressure due to recent episodes of heavy foreign selling. Among refineries NRL (-0.77 per cent), ATRL (-0.70 per cent) and BYCO (-2.70 per cent) closed in red while Banks remained under pressure with MCB (-0.47 per cent), HBL (-0.31 per cent) and ABL (-0.53 per cent) closing on a negative note.
The report added that the 100 index traded above its trend line support. “Immediate supports are extended in between 42,537 (10 EMA) & 42,173 (20EMA). Immediate resistance is 43,206.33 (all-time intraday high).”