Tech stocks surge drives PSX to mark 355-point gain

WEB DESK: The Pakistan Stock Exchange (PSX) continued its upward momentum from the previous day, primarily fueled by a surge in technology stocks.

Despite concerns surrounding an ‘alleged’ accounting scandal involving its Swiss partner, Temenos AG, Systems Limited within the tech sector remained resilient.

Closing Thursday’s trading session, the PSX’s benchmark KSE-100 index reached 61,914.34, marking a gain of 355.19 points, or 0.58 per cent.

PSX closing – February 22, 2024

Throughout the day, the index traded within a range of 491.65 points, reaching an intraday high of 61,952.10 (+392.94) and a low of 61,460.45 (-98.71) points. The total trading volume for the KSE-100 index amounted to 171.78 million shares.

The distribution between advancing and declining companies was balanced, with 50 companies closing higher and 41 closing lower. Additionally, 2 companies remained unchanged, and 7 were untraded.

The performance of the KSE-100 index was bolstered by Technology & Communication (191.04 points), Commercial Banks (114.38 points), Fertilizer (75.66 points), Oil & Gas Marketing Companies (26.75 points), and Textile Composite (23.51 points).

Conversely, the index faced downward pressure from pharmaceuticals (47.85 points), cement (32.25 points), oil and gas exploration companies (19.66 points), automobile assembly (15.77 points), and tobacco (4.61 points).

Contributing positively to the index were companies such as SYS (122.93 points), MEBL (88.36 points), TRG (57.95 points), EFERT (53.77 points), and UBL (43.52 points).

On the other hand, companies like INDU (34.59 points), LUCK (25.08 points), PPL (21.63 points), HINOON (17.4 points), and NBP (14 points) exerted downward pressure.

In the broader market, the All-Share index concluded at 41,491.88, recording a net gain of 101.39 points.

The total market volume was 324.830 million shares, a decrease from the previous session, with a traded value of Rs13.97 billion, reflecting an increase of Rs1.46 billion.

There were 162,697 trades reported across 352 companies, with 185 companies closing higher, 143 closing lower, and 24 remaining unchanged.

Noteworthy, the KSE-100 exhibited a substantial gain of 20,462 points, or 49.36 per cent, during the fiscal year.

However, the ongoing calendar year witnessed a cumulative decrease of 537 points, equivalent to 0.86 per cent. In the previous session, the index had surged by 1,094.91 points, or 1.81 per cent.

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