BRIndex100 slips

Pakistan Stock Exchange Friday witnessed a dull session as the retail investors remained on the sidelines due to concerns over the prevailing political situation in the country. BRIndex100, after moving between intraday high of 4,369.44 and intraday low of 4,335.66 points closed at 4,363.65, down 0.32 points or 0.01 percent. Volumes stood at 105.173 million shares.
BRIndex30 gained 57.45 points or 0.27 percent to 21,350.97 points with a turnover of 80.773 million shares. The benchmark KSE-100 index increased by 31.09 points to 40,844.40 points. Trading volumes increased to 115.620 million shares as compared to 96.709 million shares traded Thursday.
Foreign investors were net buyers of shares worth $1.5 million. The market capitalization increased by Rs 27 billion to Rs 8.428 trillion. Out of total 349 active scrips, 178 closed in positive, 149 in negative while the value of 22 stocks remained unchanged.
TRG Pak was the volume leader with 15.978 million shares. It increased by Rs 1.75 to close at Rs 36.79 followed by Azgard Nine that gained Rs 0.51 to close at Rs 15.66 with 12.658 million shares.
Philip Morris Pak and Sapphire Textile were the top gainers with Rs 137.07 and Rs 80.28, respectively to close at Rs 2,878.57 and Rs 1,795.00. Colgate Palmolive and Shezan International were the top losers with Rs 120.00 and Rs 24.99, respectively to close at Rs 2,310.00 and Rs 475.01.
BR Commercial Banks Index lost 6.03 points or 0.08 percent to close at 7,750.92 points with a turnover of 6.229 million shares.
BR Cement Index decreased by 19.82 points or 0.38 percent to close at 5,150.27 points with 4.674 million shares. BR Oil and Gas Index gained 23.33 points or 0.45 percent to close at 5,193.39 points with 18.314 million shares.
BR Tech. & Comm. Index closed at 1,186.49 points, up 20.76 points or 1.78 percent with 27.738 million shares.
BR Power Generation and Distribution Index lost 6.16 points or 0.1 percent to close at 6,256.40 points with 2.977 million shares.
An analyst at Arif Habib Limited said that the market remained rangebound and investors were seen taking positions in small cap stocks. Oil & Gas sector scrips remained in the limelight. Anticipation of increased use of LNG and asset accretion to SSGC and SNGP kept investors' interest in O&GMCs. Stocks that contributed significantly to the Index include PPL (plus 30 points), OGDC (plus 21 points), PAKT (plus 17 points), TRG (plus 17 points) and EFERT (plus 12 points). Negative contributions came from PSO (minus 34 points), COLG (minus 12 points), DAWH (minus 10 points), BAHL (minus 9 points) and NRL (minus 9 points).