KARACHI - After a bloodbath session Tuesday, Pakistan Stock Exchange (PSX) witnessed a recovery of 287.51 points Wednesday and closed at 44,187 points. The continuity of political uncertainty has resulted in investors switching from growth stocks to value plays, brokers said.
Top 5 index contributors included SNGP (up 4%), ENGRO (2.2%), HBL (0.9%), OGDC (1.7%) & DAWH (3.4%) which added 146 points to the index. On the other hand, LUCK (down 1.6%), PPL (0.6%), SEARL (2.3%), POL (1.3%) & EFOODS (down 5%) withheld 69 points.
Interest was seen in the steel sector as INIL closed at upper lock whereas ISL was up 4%, said analyst at Topline brokerage.
Despite increase in the overall OMC sector’s prices, SHEL closed flat as its earnings of Rs21.85/share for 1H2017 and DPS of Rs7.0 were not up to investors’ expectations.
BOP (up 0.76%) from the banking sector also posted financial results for 1H2017, an EPS of Rs1.4. ASL (up 1.90%), ISL (4.13%), INIL (4.98%) from the steel sector gained as investors picked stocks on attractive values, said analyst at JS Global.
Traded volumes were down 2% to 187m shares whereas traded value was up 13% to Rs10.3b/$98m.
ANL (up 1.80%) from the textile composite sector was the volume leader for the day with 18 million shares being traded.
Scrips of total 377 active companies participated in the session of which 217 concluded in green, 145 in red while 15 remained unchanged.