PSX maintains uptrend: BRIndex100 rallies

A bullish trend continued on Pakistan Stock Exchange Tuesday following across-the-board healthy buying, mainly by local investors.
BRIndex100 gained 136.22 points or 4.79 percent to close at 2,981.42 points. During the session, the BRIndex-100 touched an intraday high of 2,997.41 and an intraday low of 2,842.30 points. Total volumes stood at 206.820 million shares.
BRIndex30 increased by 721.07 points or 5.21 percent to close at 14,549.37 points with total turnover of 156.542 million shares.
The KSE-100 Index surged by 1,208.24 points or 4.31 percent and closed at 29,231.63 points. Trading activities also improved as daily volumes on ready counter increased to 221.865 million shares as compared to 159.469 million shares traded on Monday.
Total market capitalization increased by Rs 190 billion to Rs 5.620 trillion. Out of total 353 active scrips, 288 closed in positive and only 56 in negative while the value of 9 stocks remained unchanged.
Hascol Petroleum was the volume leader with 25.779 million shares and increased by Rs 1.00 to closed at Rs 11.65 followed by Maple Leaf that surged by Rs 1.39 to close at Rs 20.72 with 19.029 million shares. Rafhan Maize and Colgate Palmolive were the top gainers increasing by Rs 487.00 and Rs 99.00 respectively to close at Rs 6987.00 and Rs 2049.00 while Sapphire Textile and Sapphire Fiber were the top losers declining by Rs 61.49 and Rs 46.00, respectively to close at Rs 758.50 and Rs 574.00.
BR Automobile Assembler Index surged by 249.12 points or 6.08 percent to close at 4,345.54 points with total turnover of 1.643 million shares.
BR Cement Index gained 150.17 points or 4.92 percent to close at 3,203.25 points with 51.820 million shares.
BR Commercial Banks Index increased by 304.74 points or 4.79 percent to close at 6,662.53 points with 20.712 million shares.
BR Power Generation and Distribution Index inched up by 226.01 points or 6.02 percent to close at 3,980.73 points with 23.458 million shares.
BR Oil and Gas Index closed at 2,700.02 points, up 113.6 points or 4.39 percent with 48.962 million shares.
BR Tech. & Comm. Index gained 35.7 points or 5.47 percent to close at 687.87 points with 9.757 million shares.
An analyst at Arif Habib Limited said that the market opened on a positive note with plus 62 points and did not see back since then. The ascent continued till 1311 points intraday high in the KSE-100 Index.
The overriding factor that helped investors take a positive view on the market seems to be weakening selling pressure from foreign investors as well as the recent announcements on tax relief by the government that include select relief on account of custom duty, additional duties and GST. Also the prospect of end of lock down, as April begins, boosted investor confidence to take a positive view on equities.
Cement sector led the volumes with 51.8 million shares, followed by O&GMCs (31.5 million shares) and Power (23.4 million shares).
Sectors contributing to the performance include Banks (up 339 points), Fertilizer (up 161 points), E&P (up 125 points), Power (up 117 points) and Cement (up 109 points).
Stocks that contributed positively to the index include ENGRO (up 90 points), HUBC (up 84 points), MCB (up 78 points), UBL (up 76 points) and HBL (up 55 points). Stocks that contributed negatively include MUREB (down 3 points), DCR (down 2 points), IDYM (down 2 points), JLICL (down 1 point) and JDWS (down 1 point).