KARACHI: Pakistan Stock Exchange (PSX) managed to regain upward trend on Tuesday on the back of rally in the oil and energy stocks due to a sharp rise in crude price. Furthermore, the National Command and Control Centre (NCOC) deciding against stringent lockdown in the meeting also helped the investors’ sentiments.
The Karachi Share Index (KSE-100) gained 856.49 points (1.97%) after closing at 44,404.70 points against the previous closing of 43,548.21 points. The market went as high as 44,478.24 points during intra-day trading, while recording as low as 43,548.21 points.
Trading volume inched up to 305.9 million shares today, as compared to 302.8 million traded in the previous session, according to Pakistan Stock Exchange (PSX)’s website data. The daily traded value increased to Rs 16.07 billion from Rs 13.42 billion in the previous session, the data said.
The market opened the day in positive and by noon managed to breach above 44,000 points level by 11:30 am. Some intra-day correction was observed while waiting for the NCOC decisions, however, the positive sentiments supported the market to stay and close the day in positive territory, traders and analysts said.
The recovery was due as the share prices were already down after a four-day decline and today the rally was seen in oil and energy stocks, while the government seems to be avoiding strict lockdowns that lessened investors’ worries, they added.
Oil prices rose early on Tuesday as a drop in the US dollar made crude a more attractive buy, paring losses of more than 4 per cent incurred overnight on the prospect of producers returning more than 2m barrels per day of supply to the market by July.
Brent crude futures jumped 83 cents, or 1.3 per cent, to $62.98 a barrel at 0012 GMT, after falling 4.2 per cent on Monday. US West Texas Intermediate (WTI) crude futures rose 80 cents, or 1.4 per cent, to $59.45 barrel, after sliding 4.6 per cent on Monday.
The share price of Unilever Foods increased by Rs439.89 to Rs13,750 while Pakistan Tobacco gained Rs66.39 to Rs1,511.43. Similarly, Sapphire Textile lost Rs63.97 today to close at Rs862 while Sapphire Fiber lost Rs59.99 to close at Rs795.01.
