ISLAMABAD, Sept. 8 (Xinhua) -- The Pakistan Stock Exchange (PSX) finished the abbreviated week on a bullish note on Friday as investors bought fresh positions after a recent slide that left the equities in an attractive range.
The Pakistan Stock Exchange's benchmark KSE 100-Index surged by 1.08 percent, or 442.37 points, to 41,401.92 points on Friday when compared with Thursday's close of 40,958.65 points. During the week that ended on Sept. 8, the main index ended 194.03 points higher as the two each of the four sessions ended in the bearish and bullish zones. The main index is currently trading 21.70 percent, or 11,475.44 points, below its all-time high of 52,876.46 points reported on May 24, 2017.
The KSE All-Share Index gained 1.14 percent, or 334.22 points, to 29,753.29 points, the KSE 30-Index jacked up by 2.26 percent, or 262.06 points, to 21,105.87 points, the KMI 30-Index expanded by 0.70 percent, or 488.08 points, to 70,579.77 points, whereas the Islamic All-Share Index inflated by 1.17 percent, or 240.32 points, to 20,817.25 points.
During Friday's trading session, the main index moved in a broad range of 676.72 points as it touched an intraday high of 41,635.37 points as against an intraday low of 40,958.65 points.
Habib Bank Limited (HBL) returned into the limelight Friday after the U.S. Department of Finance Services (DFS) fined the top Pakistani bank's New York branch for failure to comply with New York Laws and regulations designed to combat money laundering, terrorist-financing and other illicit financial transactions. As per the statement released by DFS on Sept. 7, the DFS resized the original penalty of 630 million U.S. dollars to 225 million U.S. dollars. The HBL shall have to pay the entire amount within 14 days of executing the consent order.
Market volumes decreased slightly by 4.44 percent or 6.55 million shares to 140.78 million shares on Friday when compared with Thursday's trade numbers of 147.33 million shares. During the four-day week, the premier Pakistani equity market registered total volumes of 543.70 million shares at an average daily turnover of 135.93 million shares.
Market capitalization improved by 1.12 percent or 96.03 billion rupees (894.51 million U.S. dollars) to 8.69 trillion rupees whereas trade value trimmed down by 1.55 percent or 133.17 million rupees to 8.45 billion rupees.
Among 388 active scrips on Friday, the prices of 263 issues advanced, 103 depleted, whereas values of 22 other companies stayed unchanged for the week.
TRG Pakistan Limited, Bank of Punjab, and Azgard Nine Limited were the top traded companies with turnovers of 18.31 million shares, 14.03 million shares, and 13.19 million shares, respectively.
Nestle Pakistan XD emerged as the top price gainer with an increment of 555.94 rupees to close at 11,674.93 rupees while on the other hand, Rafhan Maize XD led the major price shedders with a decrement of 279.34 rupees to finish the week at 7,070.00 rupees. (1 U.S. dollar = 107.35 rupees)
