Pakistan Stock Exchange (PSX) Friday achieved another milestone as the benchmark KSE-100 index, for the first time in its history, crossed 45,000 points psychological level on the back of continuous buying by local investors and institutions. The index closed at 45,387.23 points, with a healthy gain of 645.25 points. Trading activity also improved as the daily trading volumes increased to 407.124 million shares as compared to 368.243 million shares traded Thursday.
The market capitalisation surged by Rs 118 billion to Rs 9.126 trillion. Out of the total 412 active scrips, 225 closed in positive, 165 in negative while the value of 22 stocks remained unchanged. Aisha Steel Mill was the volume leader with 41.736 million shares. It gained Rs 0.54 to close at Rs 16.01 followed by Bank of Punjab that increased by Rs 0.54 to close at Rs 17.72 with 33.258 million shares. Fauji Cement surged by Rs 0.33 to close at Rs 42.10 with 18.966 million shares. Wyeth Pak and Bata Pak were the top gainers with Rs 235.55 and Rs 214.33, respectively to close at Rs 4,946.62 and Rs 4,543.00. Philip Morris Pak and Khyber Tobacco were the top losers with Rs 69.95 and Rs 60.00, respectively to close at Rs 2,230.00 and Rs 1,140.00.
Nabeel Haroon at JS Global Capital said the market continued its positive momentum on the last trading day of the week, as the index gained around 645 points to close at its new high level of 45,387. Cement led the gains in the market as it gained to close 2.4 percent plus. LUCK in the cement sector gained to closed on its upper for the second consecutive day as the company in its material information disseminated in the market on Thursday informed that the board of directors of the company in its meeting have authorised an investment of up to Rs 12 billion to set up an associated company to assemble and market Kia Motors vehicle in Pakistan. OGDC, PPL and POL in the E&P sector gained to close in the green zone as crude oil prices have surged to trade above $51/bbl level. This surge in crude oil prices was on the back of production cut meeting between Opec and 14 other major oil producing nations on Saturday in Vienna.
An analyst at Global Securities said that the market continued to trend upwards during the session, gaining 646 points and extending its winning streak to 7 days. LUCK (+5%) managed to hit its upper circuit for the 2nd consecutive session, contributing 102 points, after investors took notice of Lucky Cement's planned investment in Kia Motors and Dewan Cement (DCL). Moreover, LUCK's intention to purchase DCL also alleviated investors' fear of potential weakening of the cement sector''s pricing power due to inclusion of Chinese cement manufacturers, causing almost all of the cement companies to close in green. ICI (+5.00%) and WYETH (+5.00%) also closed at their upper circuits after ICI announced its intentions to acquire certain assets of WYETH. HBL (+3.18%) also contributed 96 points with interest in the stock likely emanating from foreign buyers.