KARACHI: Pakistan Stock Exchange witnessed bullish trend on Thursday on the back of local investors and institutional support.

BRIndex100 gained 33.09 points or 0.87 percent to close at 3,822.56 points. During the session, the BRIndex-100 hit an intraday high of 3,829.26 and an intraday low of 3,803.19 points. Total volumes stood at 335.447 million shares.

BRIndex30 increased by 202.55 points or 1.04 percent to close at 19,598.21 points with total daily turnover of 235.856 million shares.

KSE-100 index surged by 322.41 points or 0.88 percent and crossed 37,000 level to close at 37,001.44 points. Trading activities also improved as daily volumes on ready counter increased to 402.589 million shares as compared to 328.394 million shares traded on Wednesday.

The foreign investors remained net sellers of shares worth $2.415 million. Total market capitalization increased by Rs 72 billion to Rs 7.005 trillion. Out of total 385 active scrips, 231 closed in positive and 142 in negative while the value of 12 stocks remained unchanged.

JS Bank was the volume leader with 31.676 million shares and gained Re 0.70 to close at Rs 6.18 followed by Maple Leaf that inched up by Re 0.51 to close at Rs 31.88 with 24.850 million shares. Unilever Foods and Nestle Pakistan were the top gainers increasing by Rs 175.00 and Rs 100.00 respectively to close at Rs 9575.00 and Rs 6900.00 while Colgate Palmolive and Indus Dyeing were the top losers declining by Rs 101.44 and Rs 44.32 respectively to close at Rs 2188.36 and Rs 548.00.

BR Automobile Assembler Index surged by 261.99 points or 4.01 percent to close at 6,798.55 points with total turnover of 13.034 million shares.

BR Cement Index increased by 89.36 points or 1.85 percent to close at 4,907.57 points with 66.551 million shares.

BR Commercial Banks Index gained 42.0 points or 0.58 percent to close at 7,342.81 points with 51.144 million shares.

BR Power Generation and Distribution Index inched up 21.01 points or 0.48 percent to close at 4,365.21 points with 13.197 million shares.

BR Oil and Gas Index closed at 3,914.68 points, up 39.23 points or 1.01 percent with 49.089 million shares.

BR Tech & Comm Index lost 10.71 points or 0.74 percent to close at 1,433.83 points with 52.429 million shares.

Maaz Mulla at JS Global Capital said that bears were defeated in the session as the market remained in green trajectory. The KSE-100 index opened positive and touched a high of plus 350 points as institutional participation was witnessed in the main board stocks.

The market finally closed at 37,001, up 322 points level. JSBL (up 13 percent), MLCF (up 1.6 percent) and PAEL (up 1.8 percent) cumulatively contributed almost 81 million shares to the total volume.

Investor's interest was witnessed in the cement sector where DGKC (up 2.7 percent), FCCL (up 3.0 percent), LUKC (up 2.6 percent), MLCF (up 1.6 percent) and KOHC (up 2.2 percent) were the major movers.

From the E&P sector, PPL (up 2.6 percent), POL (up 0.5 percent) and OGDC (up 0.9 percent) gained to close higher as crude oil prices edged higher in the international market.

Steel sector also followed the trend where ISL (up 3.0 percent), MUGHAL (up 3.4 percent), ASL (up 3.1 percent) and INIL (up 0.8 percent) gained to close in the green region.

Copyright Business Recorder, 2020