KARACHI: The stock market snapped a three-day losing streak on Thursday as selective value-hunting helped the benchmark KSE 100-share index close the session in the green territory.

Ahsan Mehanti of Arif Habib Corporation said the World Bank’s reaffirmation of collaborating with Pakistan in structural reforms and sustainable development contributed to the PSX’s mild recovery.

After completing his three-day visit, World Bank Vice-President for South Asia Martin Raiser appreciated Pakistan’s aggressive reform agenda and expressed readiness to forge a new Country Part­nership Framework with an annual review mechanism to assess progress.

He said the deliberations over privatising ailing state-owned enterprises, speculations ahead of new loan talks with the IMF, and the likely visit of the Saudi crown prince to seal investment deals under the Special Invest­ment Facilitation Council were other factors that aided bullish sentiments.

Topline Securities Ltd said the index’s positive momentum was mainly driven by contributions from TRG Pakistan, Service Industries Ltd, Systems Ltd, DG Khan Cement, and The Searle Company, which collectively added 115 points. Conversely, Engro Corpo­ration, Fauji Fertiliser Company, Engro Ferti­lisers, Bank Al-Habib Ltd and Hub Power collectively shaved off 170 points.

As a result, the benchmark index hit an intraday high of 72,889.78 and a low of 72,325.35. However, the KSE 100 index closed at 72,601.82 points after adding 56.24 points or 0.08pc on a day-on-day basis.

The overall trading volume tumbled by 30.43pc to 674.98 million shares. The traded value, however, rose 2.29pc to Rs24.05bn on a day-on-day basis.

Stocks contributing significantly to the traded volume included WorldCall Telecom Ltd (175.14m shares), Pak Elektron (40.24m shares), K-Electric Ltd (31.25m shares), The Searle Company (27.64m shares) and Citi Pharma Ltd (16.32m shares).

The shares registering the most significant increa­ses in their share prices in absolute terms were Unilever Pakistan Foods Ltd (Rs194.80), Ismail Indu­stries Ltd (Rs89.95), Ser­vice Indus­tries Ltd (Rs53.32), Hoechst Pakistan Ltd (Rs49.99) and Rafhan Maize Products Company Ltd (Rs29.00).

The companies registering the major decreases in their share prices in absolute terms were Bhanero Textile Mills Ltd (Rs63.39), Hallmark Company Ltd (Rs62.90), Sapphire Fibres Ltd (Rs49.50), Pakistan Services Ltd (Rs36.22) and Sazgar Engineering Works Ltd (Rs26.15).

Foreign investors turned net sellers as they offloaded shares worth $0.13m.

Published in Dawn, May 10th, 2024