KARACHI
The Pakistan Stock Exchange (PSX) witnessed a range bound trading activity and the benchmark KSE-100 Index gained 84.91 points (+0.18 percent) to close at 46,227.65 points.
The KSE-100 Index opened on a positive note, however, it lost the impetus towards the end amid profit taking by the investors. The Index traded in a range of 241.1 points, showing an intraday high of 46,378.3 and a low of 46,137.2.
Among other indices, the KSE All Share Index gained 91.36 points (+0.29 percent) to close at 31,851.18 points. The All Share Islamic Index shed 11.03 (-0.05 percent) to close at 23,041.25 points.
A total of 415 companies traded shares in the stock exchange, out of them shares of 205 closed up, shares of 200 closed down while shares of 10 companies remained unchanged. All share volume increased by 116.86 million to 694.82 million shares, while market capitalisation increased by Rs23.86 billion. Total trades increased by 9,930 to 181,559, while value traded increased by Rs1.67 billion to Rs24.88 billion.
Among scrips, the volume leader remained BYCO with 89.84 million shares, followed by WTL (62.28 million) and HUMNL (60.25 million).
Sectors propping up the index were technology & communication with 112 points, automobile assembler with 37 points, refinery with 11 points, insurance with 6 points and automobile parts & accessories with 6 points. The most points added to the index was by TRG which contributed 98 points followed by MTL with 47 points, SYS with 14 points, BOP with 11 points and BYCO with 11 points.
Sector wise, the index was let down by cement with 32 points, pharmaceuticals with 15 points, power generation & distribution with 15 points, textile composite with 13 points and oil & gas exploration companies with 11 points. The most points taken off the index was by HBL which stripped the index of 18 points followed by FCCL with 14 points, LUCK with 12 points, KAPCO with 11 points and POL with 11 points.
Analysts at Toplines Securities said that the benchmark index witnessed a range-bound session making an intra-day high of 46,378 (up 0.51 percent) and a low of 46,137 (down 0.01 percent) to eventually close the day at 46,228 (up 0.18 percent).
The result season continued in full swing with MTL posting an above expected 2QFY21 EPS of 30.2 (up 218 percent YoY/30 percent MoM) along with a cash dividend of Rs50/share and a 12.5 percent bonus issue, after which the stock closed at 1298.14 (up 7.5 percent).
DGKC announced its 2QFY21 EPS of 2.6 (up 98 percent YoY) which was above industry expectation while FCCL posted its 2QFY21 EPS of 0.66 (up 371 percent YoY).
BOP posted its annual EPS of Rs2.6 (down 17 percent) and lower than industry consensus, however a higher than expected dividend of PKR 1.0/share boosted investor sentiment and the stock closed the day at 9.40 (up 4.91 percent
