KARACHI: The Pakistan Stock Exchange (PSX) landed in the green on Thursday as the benchmark KSE-100 index gained 186 points, or 0.4 per cent, by the close of the trading session to reach 47,219 points.
The relief package announced by Prime Minister Imran Khan failed to entice market participants. Moreover, uncertainty in international markets and slight depreciation in the rupee forced investors to trade cautiously.
After a lackluster start, the market picked up momentum in the second half, with the index hitting an intra-day high of 47,242.02 where major positivity came from the technology sector. At close, the benchmark KSE-100 index recorded an increase of 186.74 points, or 0.40%, to settle at 47,219.18 points.
Sectors contributing to the performance included technology (+92 points), fertiliser (+44 points), refinery (+36 points), exploration and production (+26 points) and textile (+21 points). Shares of 379 companies were traded on Thursday, of which 235 registered an increase, 125 recorded a fall, while 19 remained unchanged.
Meanwhile, volume on the all-share index increased from 380.56 million on Wednesday to 561.94 million on Thursday. The value of the shares trade also increased, amounting to Rs16.01 billion from Rs15.55 billion on Wednesday.
WorldCall Telecom was the volume leader with 81.04 million shares, followed by Byco Petroleum with 30.35 million shares, and Telecard Limited XB with 26.59 million shares.
