KARACHI - Pakistan Stock Exchange crossed the psychological barrier of 40,000 points for the first time on Monday. The 100-share index closed at new all-time high of 40030.52 points after gaining 122.88 points.
Sentiments at the bourse remained positive at large, brokers said. The oil and gas sector (OGDC up 1.34% and PPL 1.63%) gained on the back of uptick in global crude oil prices, which are close to their three-week high on speculation that oil producers will agree to an output freeze in an informal OPEC’s meeting in the upcoming month. Cement sector sustained its upward journey on the back of expectations of strong FY16 results. KOHC (up 1.97%) and DGKC (0.81%) were top performers from the sector. On the other hand, banking sector remained under pressure, where most large banks (HBL down 0.91% and MCB 0.67%) remained in the red zone, observed analyst Ahmed Saeed Khan at JS Global.
Yesterday’s traded volumes decreased by 22% to 216m shares while value also decreased by 11.67% to Rs 10.6b/$101m.
OGDC and PPL contributed 47 points to the gain in index as stocks gained by 1.3% and 1.2% respectively. PSO announced EPS of 20.9 along with cash dividend of 7.5/share. APL gained 3.2% as it announced EPS of 46.16/share along with Rs 25 cash dividend, said dealers at sales desk Topline brokerage. Brokers expect positive sentiment to stay intact in the market.