Pakistan Stock Exchange Wednesday witnessed a dull session as the investors opted to remain on the sidelines weighed mainly by concerns over the political situation in the country. BRIndex100, after moving between intraday high of 4,396.12 and intraday low of 4,319.24 points, closed at 4,381.27, slightly up by only 10.56 points or 0.24 percent. Total volumes stood at 125.602 million shares.
BRIndex30 gained 36.4 points or 0.17 percent to close at 21,914.36 points with total turnover of 91.366 million shares. The benchmark KSE-100 index closed at 40,733.45 points, up by 8.49 points. Trading activity on the ready counter remained thin as daily volumes decreased to 138.115 million shares as compared to 166.837 million shares traded Tuesday.
Foreign investors remained net sellers of shares worth $0.1 million. The market capitalization declined by Rs 23 billion to Rs 8.408 trillion. Out of total 370 active scrips, 229 closed in negative, 121 in positive while the value of 20 stocks remained unchanged.
Engro Polymer was the volume leader with 21.286 million shares. It increased by Rs 1.58 to close at Rs 34.33 followed by Azgard Nine that lost Rs 0.19 to close at Rs 12.53 with 8.924 million shares. Khyber Tobacco and Lucky Cement were the top gainers with Rs 61.90 and Rs 21.24, respectively to close at Rs 1,300.09 and Rs 522.23.
BR Commercial Banks Index Closed at 7,999.99 with a net negative change of -4.81 points or a percentage change of -0.06 and a total turnover of 7,878,000. BR Cement Index Closed at 5,354.20 with a net positive change of 129.32 points or a percentage change of 2.48 and a total turnover of 13,530,850. BR Oil and Gas Index closed at 4,908.25 with a net positive change of 8.08 points or a percentage change of 0.16 and a total turnover of 4,457,010.
BR Tech. & Comm. Index closed at 1,118.48 with a net negative change of -11.95 points or a percentage change of -1.06 and a total turnover of 12,033,500. BR Power Generation and Distribution Index closed at 6,569.81 with a net negative change of -29.68 points or a percentage change of -0.45 and a total turnover of 8,816,600.
Maaz Mulla at JS Global Capital said bears dominated the bourse for most of the day on the back of political uncertainty losing 501 points during the day. However recovery was seen in the last 30 minutes as value investors took the opportunity to cherry pick stocks at attractive prices, as a result the index closed at 40,733 level, up 8 points. DGKC (up 3.45 percent) from the cement sector announced its first quarter FY18 results, posting an EPS of Rs 6.48. The earnings were in sharp contrast to street consensus as tax reversal to the tune of Rs 1106 million (assuming normal effective tax of 30 percent) were booked by the company. EPCL from the chemical sector declared its result for third quarter of 2017, where the company posted an EPS of Rs 2.93 and DPS of Rs0.45.
E&P sector gained to close higher, as Crude prices inched up to near its strongest level in around three weeks. PPL (up 0.77 percent) and OGDC (up 0.47 percent) were the major gainers of the mentioned sector. A rally was seen in the cement sector on back of the news that there has been an increase in cement prices by about Rs 15-20/bag in KPK region. LUCK (up 4.24 percent), CHCC (up 1.01 percent), FCCL (up 2.69 percent), DGKC (up 3.45 percent) and KOHC (up 2.22 percent) cumulatively contributed plus 98 points to the index.
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