PSX stays vibrant: BRIndex100 flat

Pakistan Stock Exchange Tuesday closed on a positive note on the back of select buying, mainly by local investors.

BRIndex100 gained 3.43 points or 0.09 percent to close at 3,713.29 points. BRIndex100 touched intraday high of 3,744.70 and intraday low of 3,700.69 points. Volumes stood at 281.514 million shares.

BRIndex30 inched up by 49.88 points or 0.26 percent to close at 19,514.72 points with a turnover of 213.083 million shares.

The KSE-100 Index increased by 80.85 points or 0.23 percent to close at 35,358.31 points. Trading activity improved significantly as daily volumes on the ready counter increased to 308.484 million shares as compared to 207.782 million shares traded Monday.

Foreign investors however remained net sellers of shares worth $1.5 million. The market capitalization increased by Rs 24 billion to Rs 6.847 trillion. Out of total 370 active scrips, 194 closed in positive, 153 in negative while the value of 23 stocks remained unchanged.

WorldCall Telecom was the volume leader with 81.714 million shares. It gained Re 0.28 to close at Rs 1.48 followed by Maple Leaf that increased by Re 0.94 to close at Rs 19.09 with 15.276 million shares.

Colgate Palmolive and Indus Motor Co were the top gainers with Rs 70.25 and Rs 48.22, respectively to close at Rs 1,998.00 and Rs 1,012.76. Island Textile and Sapphire Textile were the top losers with Rs 87.15 and Rs 43.78, respectively to close at Rs 1,655.91 and Rs 832.00.

BR Automobile Assembler Index increased by 117.08 points or 2.37 percent to close at 5,048.15 points with total turnover of 2.453 million shares. BR Cement Index gained 8.42 points or 0.26 percent to close at 3,213.48 points with 40.817 million shares.

BR Commercial Banks Index lost 18.02 points or 0.22 percent to close at 8,222.05 points with 12.313 million shares.

BR Power Generation and Distribution Index declined by 62.52 points or 1.32 percent to close at 4,662.70 points with 10.812 million shares.

BR Oil and Gas Index inched up by 14.62 points or 0.36 percent to close at 4,126.52 points with 22.292 million shares.

BR Tech. & Comm. Index closed at 768.03 points, up 18.52 points or 2.47 percent with 99.547 million shares.

An analyst at Arif Habib Limited said that the market showed vibrancy in the early hours of trading that saw an increase of 331 points in total.

Banks and E&P sector largely resisted the increase in index, besides LUCK among cement sector stocks. Fertilizer sector showed a mixed trend, however, Chemical, O&GMCs and Autos sector contributed positive to the Index. On the back of possible expansion from ARY Communications, WTL performed well and registered high trading volumes (27 percent of total volumes). In addition, overall trading volumes also hit a consecutive recent high of 300 million shares. Technology sector remained in the limelight with 99.4 million shares, followed by Cement (40.8 million shares) and Chemical (28.4 million shares).

Sectors contributing to the performance include Fertilizer (up 28 points), Autos (up 21 points), Chemical (up 20 points), Textile (up 18 points), O&GMCs (up 18 points), Power (down 34 points) and Banks (down 24 points).

Stocks that contributed positively include ENGRO (up 32 points), MCB (up 32 points), SNGP (up 21 points), INDU (up 14 points) and COLG (up 9 points). Stocks that contributed negatively include HUBC (down 43 points), UBL (down 19 points), LUCK (down 15 points), FFC (down 13pts) and HBL (down 12 points).