KARACHI: The stock exchange witnessed positive momentum along with improved trading volumes on Friday after crude oil prices declined in the international market, according to Arif Habib Ltd.

Energy shares, such as the twin Sui companies, Oil and Gas Development Company Ltd, Pakistan Petroleum Ltd and Pakistan State Oil Company Ltd, closed in the green zone following the passage of a favourable piece of legislation by the upper house of parliament.

Bank of Punjab remained in the limelight after declaring 12.5 per cent bonus shares along with higher-than-expected earnings.

As a result, the KSE-100 index gained 234.77 points or 0.52pc on a day-on-day basis to close at 45,675.87 points.

The trading volume increased 26.9pc to 194.1 million shares while the traded value went down 9.7pc to $24.5m on a day-on-day basis.

Sectors that contributed the highest number of points to the benchmark index included commercial banking (47.42 points), fertiliser (36.26 points), oil and gas marketing (34.19 points), oil and gas exploration (31.59 points) and cement (28.28 points).

Stocks contributing significantly to the traded volume included Bank of Punjab Ltd (60.3m shares), Soneri Bank Ltd (16.35m shares), TeleCard Ltd (11.1m shares), Sui Northern Gas Pipelines Ltd (9.88m shares) and K-Electric Ltd (8.79m shares).

Shares contributing positively to the index included Engro Fertilisers Ltd (28.49 points), Oil and Gas Development Company Ltd (23.06 points), United Bank Ltd (22.26 points), Pakistan Petroleum Ltd (18.81 points) and Sui Northern Gas Pipelines Ltd (17.97 points).

Stocks that took away the maximum number of points from the index included Pakistan Tobacco Company Ltd (14.87 points), Mari Petroleum Company Ltd (12.04 points), Millat Trac­tors Ltd (5.63 points), Fatima Fertiliser Company Ltd (5.51 points) and Kohinoor Textile Mills Ltd (3.73 points).

Stocks recording the biggest increases in percentage terms on a day-on-day basis were Sui Northern Gas Pipelines Ltd (7.5pc), OLP Financial Services Pakistan Ltd (4.09pc), Thal Ltd (3.73pc), Shakarganj Ltd (3.16pc) and Engro Fertilisers Ltd (2.3pc).

Foreign investors were net sellers as they offloaded shares worth $1.22m.

Published in Dawn, February 19th, 2022