Equities extend gains

KARACHI: A positive trend continued on Pakistan Stock Exchange on the back of fresh buying in various sectors Tuesday.

The benchmark KSE-100 Index increased by 218.00 points or 0.52 percent and closed at 42,265.36 points. The index hit 42,314.16 points intraday high, however closed on slightly low level due to profit-taking in some stocks.

Trading activity remained low as total daily volumes decreased to 237.359 million shares as compared to 240.219 million shares traded on Monday while total daily traded value on ready counter increased to Rs 5.801 billion against previous session’s Rs 5.447 billion.

BRIndex100 gained 18.47 points or 0.44 percent to close at 4,216.01 points with total daily turnover of 191.109 million shares.

BRIndex30 closed at 15,573.62 points, up 1.81 points or 0.01 percent with total daily trading volumes of 121.011 million shares.

Foreign investors also remained net buyers of shares worth $115,519. Total market capitalization increased by Rs 15 billion to Rs 6.766 trillion. Out of total 362 active scrips, 188 closed in positive and 142 in negative while the value of 32 stocks remained unchanged.

Fauji Foods was the volume leader with 31.070 million shares and gained Rs 0.51 to close at Rs 6.35 followed by WorldCall Telecom that lost Rs 0.04 to close at Rs 1.57 with 22.922 million shares. Cnergyico PK closed at Rs 5.00, up Rs 0.10 with 14.282 million shares.

Reliance Cotton and Khyber Tobacco were the top gainers increasing by Rs 43.85 and Rs 32.49 respectively to close at Rs 633.85 and Rs 465.71 while Rafhan Maize and Allawasaya Textile were the top losers declining by Rs 854.00 and Rs 249.16 respectively to close at Rs 10,576.00 and Rs 3,073.00.

An analyst at Topline Securities said that Pakistan equities closed positive where the benchmark KSE-100 Index settled at 42,265 level, up 0.52 percent.

The market continued its Monday’s positive momentum over expectation of rollover of $13 billion upcoming debt payment from China and Saudi Arabia further investors also cheered decline in international coal prices which led the Cement sector to remain in limelight where LUCK, CHCC, FCCL, and PIOC closed higher.

Major positive contributors in the trading session were MEBL, ENGRO and BAFL cumulatively added 71 points in KSE100 Index.

BR Automobile Assembler Index increased by 130.7 points or 1.47 percent to close at 9,012.56 points with total turnover of 8.376 million shares.

BR Cement Index surged by 82.55 points or 1.84 percent to close at 4,558.46 points with 20.749 million shares.

BR Commercial Banks Index added 97.12 points or 1.18 percent to close at 8,313.48 points with 25.351 million shares.

BR Power Generation and Distribution Index gained 61.54 points or 0.91 percent to close at 6,841.60 points with 10.096 million shares.

BR Oil and Gas Index inched up by 18.7 points or 0.49 percent to close at 3,825.38 points with 20.499 million shares.

BR Tech. & Comm. Index declined by 57.01 points or 1.3 percent to close at 4,342.30 points with 45.331 million shares.

An analyst at Arif Habib Limited said that another rangebound session was witnessed at the PSX. The market opened in the positive zone continuing its momentum from the previous close as investors’ participation remained sluggish throughout the trading session.

Investors continued value hunting across the board although the cement sector remained in the limelight due to international coal prices plummeting.

Sectors contributing to the performance include Commercial Banks (up 97.9 points), Cement (up 61.6 points), Fertilizer (up 43.2 points), E&P (up 40.3 points) and Automobile Assembler (up 26.7 points).

Copyright Business Recorder, 2022