KARACHI: The Pakistan Stock Exchange (PSX) continued its positive momentum on Thursday amidst encouraging corporate results.

The benchmark index of the PSX closed at 45,985.41 points, up 193.49 or 0.42 per cent from a day ago.

According to Topline Securities, major positivity came from Lucky Cement Ltd, Colgate-Palmolive Pakistan Ltd, Fauji Cement Company Ltd, Pakistan State Oil Company Ltd and United Bank, which cumulatively added 153 points to the KSE-100 index.

On the corporate announcement front, Lucky Cement Ltd announced earnings per share (EPS) of Rs20.50 for July-September, which were higher than market expectations. Systems Ltd posted EPS of Rs7.53 for the first quarter of 2021-22 against Rs4.03 a year ago.

Market participation increased 27.25pc to 229.57 million shares on a day-on-day basis.

Sectors contributing to the benchmark index included cement (127.04 points), commercial banking (33.51 points), pharmaceutical (27.89 points), chemical (27.44 points) and oil and gas marketing (21.18 points).

Stocks that contributed significantly to the traded volume included Merit Packaging Ltd (31.83m shares), Hum Network Ltd (22.25m shares), WorldCall Telecom Ltd (10.65m shares), Azgard Nine Ltd (8.86m shares) and Byco Petroleum Ltd (8.78m shares).

Stocks that contributed positively to the index included Lucky Cement Ltd (54.54 points), Colgate-Palmolive Pakistan Ltd (31.51 points), Fauji Cement Company Ltd (24.45 points), Pakistan State Oil Company Ltd (21.23 points) and United Bank Ltd (20.84 points).

Shares that contributed negatively included TRG Pakistan Ltd (21.40 points), Unity Foods Ltd (17.93 points), Engro Corporation Ltd (12.04 points), Engro Fertilisers Ltd (11.56 points) and Avanceon Ltd (10.23 points).

Stocks recording the highest gains in percentage terms included Packages Ltd, which went up 7.5pc, followed by Fauji Cement Company Ltd (7.37pc), Shakarganj Ltd (7.23pc), Colgate-Palmolive Pakistan Ltd (7.11pc) and Azgard Nine Ltd (5.73pc).

Foreign investors were net sellers as they offloaded shares worth $1.15m.

Published in Dawn, October 29th, 2021