Aggressive institutional buying, mainly by NIT State Enterprise Fund, supported the benchmark KSE-100 index to register a healthy gain of 218.94 points to close at 5,815.43 points level on Wednesday, analysts said. Despite the uncertainty on the political front and the prevailing law and order situation in the country, the local institutions opted to take fresh positions on dips in almost all sectors, they added.
The market witnessed healthy trading activity as the volume at the ready counter significantly increased to 139.530 million shares as compared to 75.726 million shares traded a day earlier. The overall market capitalisation surged by Rs 63 billion to Rs 1.803 trillion. Out of the total 283 active scrips, 213 closed in the positive and 59 in the negative while the value of 11 scrips remained unchanged.
The E&P giant, OGDC, was the overall volume leader with 9.726 million shares and gained Rs 2.57 to close at Rs 57.00. Bank Al Falah (R) increased by Re. 0.41 to close at Rs 0.65 with 7.799 million shares. Bank Al Falah closed at Rs 11.79, up by Re. 0.77 with 7.695 million shares.
Zeal Pak gained Re. 0.07 to close at Re. 0.33 with 7.492 million shares. Jahangir Siddiqui Co increased by Rs 1.27 to close at Rs 26.71 with 6.478 million shares. NIB Bank surged by Re. 0.27 to close at Rs 4.60 with 5.921 million shares. Fauji Fertiliser Bin Qasim closed at Rs 18.57, up by Re. 0.99 with 5.554 million shares. NBP gained Rs 3.15 to close at Rs 66.19 with 5.259 million shares. Hub Power increased by Re. 0.92 to close at Rs 18.10 with 3.944 million shares. DG Khan Cement surged by Re. 1.00 to close at Rs 16.41 with 3.742 million shares.
Nestle Pakistan and Attock Petroleum were the highest gainers and gained Rs 47.16 and Rs 12.31 to close at Rs 994.50 and Rs 259.70 respectively while Unilever Pakistan and Shezan International were the worst losers and lost Rs 40.00 and Rs 9.75 to close at Rs 1760.00 and Rs 185.25 respectively.
Ahsan Mehanti at Shehzad Chamdia Securities said brisk buying witnessed in the oversold market after Tuesday's panic selling. The expected reduction in discount rates, big support from state run mutual funds and large investors, withdrawal of mobile court system announced by the government and recovery in Asian Capital Markets played a catalyst role for the market recovery. Investors built portfolios on expectations of important announcements this week, he added.