KSE-100 index surges by 278.08 points: BRIndex100 extends gains

On the back of healthy buying in various sectors, Pakistan Stock Exchange Wednesday witnessed a bullish trend a day after the announcement of the federal budget. BRIndex100 gained 39.26 points or 1.09 percent to close at 3,657.27 points. BRIndex100 touched intraday high of 3,680.39 and intraday low of 3,612.42 points. Volumes stood at 136.671 million shares.
BRIndex30 increased by 231.45 points or 1.26 percent to close at 18,669.80 points with a turnover of 103.883 million shares. The KSE-100 index surged by 278.08 points or 0.80 percent to close at 34,937.93 points. Trading activity also improved as daily volumes increased to 150.978 million shares as compared to 116.931 million shares traded Tuesday.
Foreign investors remained net sellers of shares worth $0.2 million. The market capitalization increased by Rs 42 billion to Rs 7.063 trillion. Out of total 327 active scrips, 216 closed in positive, only 84 in negative while the value of 27 stocks remained unchanged. Bank of Punjab was the volume leader with 18.499 million shares. However, it lost Re 0.21 to close at Rs 9.79 followed by Maple Leaf that increased by Re 0.96 to close at Rs 23.02 with 9.961 million shares.
Pak Suzuki and Sitara Chemical were the top gainers with Rs 13.74 and Rs 11.18, respectively to close at Rs 288.63 and Rs 287.34. Sanofi-Aventis and Jubilee Life Ins were the top losers with Rs 24.99 and Rs 15.30, respectively to close at Rs 645.01 and Rs 290.70.
BR Commercial Banks Index gained 7.28 points or 0.09 percent to close at 8,267.57 points with total turnover of 23.943 million shares. BR Cement Index increased by 64.66 points or 2.17 percent to close at 3,050.67 points with 26.033 million shares. BR Oil and Gas Index inched up by 38.51 points or 0.93 percent to close at 4,164.22 points with 10.364 million shares.
BR Tech. & Comm. Index closed at 775.52 points, up 15.48 points or 2.04 percent with 13.216 million shares. BR Power Generation and Distribution Index lost 27.87 points or 0.57 percent to close at 4,891.87 points with 9.859 million shares.
BR Automobile Assembler Index surged by 50.2 points or 0.85 percent to close at 5,975.35 points with 2.380 million shares. An analyst at Topline Securities said that the investors turned optimistic post-budget despite 7.2 percent fiscal deficit target as tax measures taken are considered to be lower than expectations on certain sectors like fertilizer. Fertilizer was the best performing sector by adding 82 points to the index while E&P companies and cement companies added 108 points cumulatively to the index. Top index contributors in the session were PPL, HBL, ENGRO, FFC, and OGDC, adding 167 points to index gain.