KARACHI: The bulls took command of the Pakistan Stock Exchange (PSX) on Friday, snapping a three-session bloodbath as aggressive value-hunting helped the KSE 100 index partially recover staggering losses inflicted during the ‘correction phase’.

The index regained 3,238.17 points or 3.05 per cent at 109,513.15 in the weekend session. The 109k barrier was quickly knocked down as investors bought all over the board.

The market capitalisation jumped by Rs354.7bn ($1.27bn) to Rs13.95 trillion ($50.14bn) after suffering steep pruning in the last three sessions.

The significant feature of the day’s trading was the highest deployment of funds in equities, amounting to $7.42m by banks, followed by individual purchases of $2.51m.

Mutual funds and foreign investors remained net sellers as they offloaded shares worth $6.54m and $1.49m, respectively.

Topline Securities Ltd noted that investors came in to purchase shares at dips as they believed all was not lost given the low-interest rate environment where further cuts were expected in monetary policy in the future.

Major positive contributions to the index came from Fauji Fertiliser, Mari Petroleum, Systems Ltd, Hub Power, United Bank, MCB Bank, and Bank Alfalah, cumulatively contributing 1,587 points.

Ahsan Mehanti of Arif Habib Corporation said stocks closed bullishly, led by scrips across the board, due to strong valuations.

Also, the government’s deliberations on privatising state-owned enterprises, resolving IPP contracts, upbeat economic indicators for surging exports, SBP foreign exchange reserves, and rupee stability fuelled buying interest, he added.

Ali Najib, Head of Sales at Insight Securities, said the index dipped 674 points to hit an intraday low at 105,601.

However, sentiments turned positive as value-hunters step­ped in to stabilise the market.

He added that despite undergoing a significant correction during the we­­ek, the market’s close ab­­ove the 109,500 level indicates that the downturn phase may have ended, and the market could likely resume a bullish trend from Monday.

However, the trading volume plunged 35.33pc to 754.9 million shares while the traded value fell 30.58pc to Rs39.4bn day-on-day.

Stocks contributing significantly to the traded vo­­lume included World Call Telecom (99.94m sha­res), Pace Pakistan (43.28m shares), K-Electric (40.64m shares), Sui Sou­thern Gas (40.61m shares) and Cner­gyico PK (30.42m shares).

Published in Dawn, December 21st, 2024