KARACHI: Pakistan Stock Exchange on Thursday witnessed a mixed trend with low trading activity as investors opted to book profits on available margins.
The benchmark KSE-100 index hit 51,520.68 points intraday high and 51,140.64 points intraday low before closing at 51,185.28 points slightly up by 8.15 points or 0.02 percent.
Trading activity remained low as total daily volumes on ready counter decreased to 364.039 million shares as compared to 427.393 million shares traded on Wednesday while total daily traded value on ready counter declined to Rs 10.928 billion against previous session’s Rs 15.509 billion.
BRIndex100 inched down by 1.8 points or 0.03 percent to close at 5,192.90 points with total daily turnover of 313.536 million shares.
BRIndex30 declined by 158.66 points or 0.86 percent to close at 18,190.19 points with total daily trading volumes of 218.372 million shares.
Foreign investors however remained net buyers of shares worth $332,659. Total market capitalization increased by Rs 5 billion to Rs 7.452 trillion. Out of total 357 active scrips, 197 closed in negative and 140 in positive while the value of 20 stocks remained unchanged.
WorldCall Telecom was the volume leader with 57.470 million shares however lost Rs 0.02 to close at Rs 1.36 followed by Bank of Punjab that gained Rs 0.47 to close at Rs 4.83 with 46.166 million shares. K-Electric closed at Rs 3.23, down Rs 0.01 with 20.802 million shares.
Service Ind. Limited and Al-Ghazi Tractors were the top gainers increasing by Rs 28.74 and Rs 23.56 respectively to close at Rs 412.00 and Rs 337.74 while Sapphire Fiber and Faisal Spinning were the top losers declining by Rs 88.44 and Rs 20.00 respectively to close at Rs 1090.75 and Rs 330.00.
An analyst at Topline Securities said that Pakistan equities had a rangebound day. The day began positively, with investors carrying forward the bullish momentum from the preceding day.
However, market witnessed profit-taking in the later half which compelled KSE-100 Index to shed away gains it had made during the early trading hours. Ultimately, the market ended the day on a relatively flat note at a level of 51,185 (up 8 points or up 0.02 percent).
During the day, banking sector stocks emerged as star performers. This was driven by outstanding financial results and dividend announcements that exceeded street expectations, as part of the ongoing results season.
Consequently, BAHL, MEBL, MCB and BOP contributed positively by adding 167 points, cumulatively on the other hand, some stocks like PPL, DAWH, and HBL experienced profit-taking, resulting in a combined loss of 85 points.
BR Automobile Assembler Index increased by 67.21 points or 0.64 percent to close at 10,499.27 points with total turnover of 11.142 million shares.
BR Cement Index gained 12.45 points or 0.23 percent to close at 5,392.72 points with 37.698 million shares.
BR Commercial Banks Index surged 121.09 points or 1.01 percent to close at 12,097.03 points with 76.535 million shares.
BR Power Generation and Distribution Index inched up by 10.2 points or 0.09 percent to close at 10,924.94 points with 33.085 million shares.
BR Oil and Gas Index declined by 47.59 points or 1.0 percent to close at 4,717.68 points with 24.652 million shares.
BR Tech. & Comm. Index closed at 3,747.28 points, up 2.49 points or 0.07 percent with 79.997 million shares.
Muhammad Shuja Qureshi at JS Global Capital said strong resistance around the 51,500 level induced profit-taking and the KSE-100 Index closed at 51,185, up 8 points.
While selling was across the board, individual stocks posted handsome gains with BAHL (up 7.5 percent), SCBPL (up 7.5 percent), AGTL (up 7.5 percent), and OTSU (up 7.5 percent) closing at upper circuit.
Market turnover dropped to 364 million shares, where WTL (down 1.4 percent), BOP (up 11 percent), KEL (down 0.3 percent), HIFA (up 47 percent), and DCL (up 2.4 percent) were the volume leaders.
Copyright Business Recorder, 2023
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