PSX Closing Bell: Top Line

February 28, 2024 (MLN): The benchmark KSE-100 index closed Wednesday's trading session at 63,703.45 showing an increase of 484.35 points or 0.77%.

Market participants are closely monitoring February’s inflation and trade data, which are due on Friday.

Investors remain optimistic as the inflation is expected to slow significantly to about 23.3% YoY, its lowest level in 17 months.

During 2023, the profitability of the KSE-100 Index surged 51% YoY to over Rs1.5 trillion largely led by commercial banks and exploration and production (E&P) companies, according to Arif Habib Limited.

In today's session, the index traded in a range of 887.43 points showing an intraday high of 63,929.58 (+710.48) and a low of 63,042.15 (-176.95) points.

The total volume of the KSE-100 index was 265.803 million shares.

Of the 100 index companies 49 closed up, 40 closed down, 4 were unchanged, while 7 remained untraded.

KSE-100 index was supported by Fertilizer with 191.49, Cement with 159.29, Oil & Gas Exploration Companies with 90.14, Commercial Banks with 53.37, and Refinery with 32.74 points.

On the contrary, Technology & Communication led the downturn with a decrease of 92.31 points as TRG reported a loss of Rs11.47 billion [LPS: Rs19.43] in 6MFY24.

This was followed by Miscellaneous with 31.97, Textile Composite with 17.29, Pharmaceuticals with 11.84, and Glass & Ceramics with 3.82 points.

Companies adding points to the index were FFC with 93.21, EFERT with 69.19, LUCK with 66.03, MCB with 44.71, and OGDC with 41.49 points.

Meanwhile, companies that dragged the index lower were TRG with 71.78, PSEL with 29.88, SYS with 26.28, BIPL with 10.03 and NML with 9.86 points.

In the broader market, the All-Share index closed at 42,453.08 with a net gain of 260.00 points.

Total market volume was 461.391 million shares compared to 409.963 from the previous session while traded value was recorded at Rs16.00 billion showing an increase of Rs1.31bn.

There were 174,350 trades reported in 355 companies with 180 closing up, 149 closing down and 26 remaining unchanged.

To note, the KSE-100 has gained 22,251 points or 53.68% during the fiscal year, whereas the ongoing calendar year has witnessed a cumulative increase of 1,252 points, equivalent to 2.01%.

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