PSX extends gains: BRIndex100 little changed

Pakistan Stock Exchange Thursday witnessed a mixed trend as investors remained cautious amid concerns over various issues.

BRIndex100 gained 7.16 points or 0.18 percent to close at 3,913.23 points. BRIndex100 touched intraday high of 3,939.48 and intraday low of 3,906.07 points. Volumes stood at 264.633 million shares.

BRIndex30 lost 19.09 points or 0.09 percent to close at 20,416.67 points with a turnover of 160.645 million shares.

The KSE-100 Index increased by 76.24 points or 0.21 percent to close at 37,243.20 points. Trading activity also improved as daily volumes on the ready counter increased to 336.365 million shares as compared to 275.430 million shares traded Wednesday.

The market capitalization increased by Rs 14 billion to Rs 7.148 trillion. Out of total 395 active scrips, 228 closed in positive, 150 in negative while the value of 17 stocks remained unchanged.

Maple Leaf was the volume leader with 38.599 million shares. It gained Re 0.15 to close at Rs 7.26 followed by Bank of Punjab that closed at Rs 10.38, up Re 0.01 with 17.651 million shares.

Bata Pak and Island Textile were the top gainers increasing by Rs 80.69 and Rs 58.41, respectively to close at Rs 1,883.90 and Rs 1,494.00. Colgate Palmolive and Philip Morris Pak were the top losers with Rs 95.00 and Rs 49.40, respectively to close at Rs 1,825.01 and Rs 2,190.60.

BR Automobile Assembler Index surged by 234.68 points or 4.3 percent to close at 5,689.49 points with total turnover of 4.422 million shares.

BR Cement Index gained 37.82 points or 1.13 percent to close at 3,382.82 points with 47.406 million shares.

BR Commercial Banks Index inched up by 17.64 points or 0.21 percent to close at 8,618.84 points with 36.113 million shares.

BR Power Generation and Distribution Index lost 16.45 points or 0.32 percent to close at 5,101.67 points with 11.532 million shares.

BR Oil and Gas Index decreased by 28.22 points or 0.65 percent to close at 4,328.81 points with 9.193 million shares.

BR Tech. & Comm. Index closed at 847.86 points, up 14.99 points or 1.8 percent with 25.024 million shares.

An analyst at Arif Habib Limited said that the market gained further with 340 points intra-day high as cement, steel, autos and fertilizer stayed in the limelight with buying activity, whereas E&P and blue chip banks faced selling pressure.

Concerns on political uncertainty caused the investors to be cautious of downward adjustment in the Index and preferred booking profits wherever they could. A major chunk of trading volumes was generated in MLCF's Right shares, which registered volume of 38.6 million shares (11.5 percent of total). Prices of MLCF and its Right went down in initial trading but saw heavy buying activity that took the prices towards upper circuit. Cement sector led the volumes with 47.4 million shares, followed by Banks (36.1 million shares) and Engineering (31.9 million shares).

Sectors contributing to the performance include Autos (up 40 points), Banks (up 23 points), Cement (up 23 points), Pharma (up 17 points), Technology (up 13 points), E&P (down 33 points) and O&GMCs (down 16 points).

Stocks that contributed positively include MEBL (up 26 points), BAHL (up 22 points), INDU (up 16 points), MTL (up 16 points) and DGKC (up 12 points). Stocks that contributed negatively include HBL (down 32 points), COLG (down 12 points), OGDC (down 11 points), POL (down 9 points) and LUCK (down 9 points).