KARACHI: A positive trend continued on Pakistan Stock Exchange on Wednesday on the back of healthy buying by local and foreign investors.
The benchmark KSE-100 Index gained 219.25 points or 0.52 percent and crossed 42,000 psychological level to close at 42,142.71 points. The index hit 42,231.63 points intraday high, however closed at lower level due to profit-taking in certain stocks.
Trading activity also improved as total daily volumes on ready counter increased to 332.534 million shares as compared to 240.829 million shares traded on Tuesday. The daily traded value on ready counter stood at Rs 7.148 billion against previous session’s Rs 7.152 billion.
BRIndex100 gained 23.49 points or 0.56 percent to close at 4,217.94 points with total daily turnover of 296.603 million shares.
BRIndex30 surged by 162.63 points or 1.12 percent to close at 14,620.75 points with total daily trading volumes of 233.764 million shares.
Foreign investors also remained net buyers of shares worth $376,513. The market capitalization increased by Rs 39 billion to Rs 6.406 trillion. Out of total 344 active scrips, 198 closed in positive and 120 in negative while the value of 26 stocks remained unchanged.
WorldCall Telecom was the volume leader with 79.599 million shares and inched up by Rs 0.07 to close at Rs 1.22 followed by Telecard Limited that gained Rs 0.46 to close at Rs 7.41 with 16.584 million shares. Pak Int. Bulk Terminal closed at Rs 4.39, up Rs 0.13 with 15.416 million shares.
Colgate Palmolive and Bhanero Textile were the top gainers increasing by Rs 116.92 and Rs 84.99 respectively to close at Rs 1675.86 and Rs 1289.99 while Sapphire Fiber and Philip Morris Pak were the top losers declining by Rs 91.01 and Rs 35.22 respectively to close at Rs 1134.00 and Rs 463.28.
An analyst at Arif Habib Limited said that the positive trend continued at the PSX. The market opened in the green, sustaining the previous session’s strong momentum as rumors about the continuation of the IMF program, would be finalized in June made headlines. Throughout the day, investors remained active, with the technology and telecom sectors remaining in the spotlight as the Prime Minister suggested incentives for the sectors in the upcoming budget. Across the board, healthy volumes were recorded.
Sectors contributing to the performance include Technology & Communication (up 100.1 points), Chemical (up 44.8 points), E&P (up 36.5 points), OMCs (up 21.3 points) and Vanaspati & Allied Industries (up 13.5 points).
BR Automobile Assembler Index increased by 44.9 points or 0.61 percent to close at 7,462.05 points with total turnover of 4.277 million shares.
BR Cement Index gained 16.2 points or 0.35 percent to close at 4,624.74 points with 13.710 million shares.
BR Commercial Banks Index lost 16.75 points or 0.2 percent to close at 8,545.02 points with 24.942 million shares.
BR Power Generation and Distribution Index inched down by 5.38 points or 0.07 percent to close at 7,395.07 points with 8.330 million shares.
BR Oil and Gas Index added 35.31 points or 0.9 percent to close at 3,941.38 points with 18.829 million shares.
BR Tech. & Comm. Index surged by 115.75 points or 3.14 percent to close at 3,804.86 points with 133.642 million shares.
Ahsan Mehanti at Arif Habib Corporation said the stock closed bullish led by select scrips across-the-board as investor weigh easing political noise and government growth projections at 3.5 percent for FY24.
He said speculations in the pre-budget rally and surge in Pakistan dollar bonds over expected renewal of new IMF bailout program played a catalytic role in bullish close.
Copyright Business Recorder, 2023
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