ISLAMABAD: The Pakistan Stock Exchange (PSX) witnessed a strong rally on Wednesday as political tensions in the country’s capital eased, following Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf’s (PTI) announcement to call off its protest in Islamabad.
The benchmark 100 Index increased by 4,600 points its highest-ever single-day gain, just a day after it witnessed a massive sell-off due to political situation.
This marked a significant recovery from the previous days of market volatility, attributed to the political unrest caused by PTI’s protest, which had paralysed daily activities in Islamabad since November 24.
The trading house gained 4,695.09 points, showing a positive change of 4.96 percent. At close the index settled with 99,269.25 points as compared to 94,574.16 points on the last trading day.
A total of 1,057,104,968 shares were entertained during the day as compared to 1,116,324,649 shares the previous trading day, whereas the price of shares stood at Rs 39.556 billion against Rs. 43.291 billion on the last trading day.
As many as 453 companies traded their shares in the stock market, 356 of them registered gains and 52 met losses, whereas the share price of 45 companies remained unchanged.
The three top trading companies were Bank of Punjab with 114,966,225 shares at Rs 7.85 per share followed by Hascol Petrol with 106,286,630 shares at Rs 12.59 per share whereas K-Electric Limited settled with 91,200,956 shares at Rs.5.15 per share.
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Unilever Pakistan Foods Limited registered a maximum increase of Rs. 348.78 per share price, closing at Rs 19,368.13, whereas the Rafhan Maize Products Company Limited was runner-up with Rs 175.25 rise in its per share price to Rs 7,988.75.
Rafhan Services Limited witnessed a maximum decline of Rs 50.29 per share closing at Rs 827.72 followed by Sapphire Textile Mills Limited with a decrease of Rs 26.35 to close at Rs.1,151.64.
Talking to media, Yousuf M. Farooq, director research at Chase Securities, said, “The market is recovering from a sharp correction as the authorities have successfully dispersed crowds in the federal capital.”
He said that attention had “shifted back to decreasing interest rates and earnings growth”.
Awais Ashraf, director research at AKD Securities, also expressed the same views while talking to a leading English newspaper. He was of the view that the dimming political turmoil “revitalized investor confidence, supported by improving macroeconomic indicators”.
“Equities are likely to maintain a bullish trend, driven by decreasing fixed-income yields and subdued commodity prices,” he emphasized, saying that the index remained “notably undervalued compared to its historical averages and regional counterparts”, Dawn reported.
Earlier on Tuesday, in a turbulent session at the PSX, the 100-index registered its largest-ever single-day decline as it plummeted 3,506 points due to increasing political instability concerns among investors.
PTI Calls Off Protest in Islamabad
Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI), in the early hours of Wednesday, announced that it was calling off its Islamabad protest “for the time being”.
They made the announcement after Pakistan’s law enforcement agencies in a late-night operation cleared Islamabad’s Blue Area and dispersed the Pakistan Tehrik-e-Insaf (PTI) protestors who had marched to the federal capital demanding the release of imprisoned former prime minister Imran Khan.
Imran Khan’s wife Bushra Bibi and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Chief Minister Ali Amin Gandapur who were leading the protest, escaped from the venue in a vehicle during the government action.
