KARACHI: Pakistan Stock Exchange on Wednesday witnessed mixed trend as the investors remained cautious to take fresh position.

BRIndex100 gained 8.2 points or 0.21 percent to close at 3,908.40 points. During the session, the BRIndex-100 hit an intraday high of 3,927.25 and an intraday low of 3,875.90 points. Total volumes stood at 360.022 million shares.

BRIndex30 lost 14.47 points or 0.07 percent to close at 20,121.62 points with total daily turnover of 232.073 million shares.

KSE-100 index increased by 104.30 points or 0.28 percent and closed at 37,804.61 points. Trading activities remained low as daily volumes decreased to 405.508 million shares as compared to 457.216 million shares traded on Tuesday.

The foreign investors remained net sellers of shares worth $3.498 million. Total market capitalization increased by Rs 15 billion to Rs 7.121 trillion. Out of total 409 active scrips, 196 closed in negative and 185 in positive while the value of 28 stocks remained unchanged.

Hascol Petroleum was the volume leader with 21.215 million shares and gained Re 0.35 to close at Rs 14.08 followed by Unity Foods that inched up by Re 0.43 to close at Rs 12.79 with 20.098 million shares. Rafhan Maize and Bhanero Textile were the top gainers increasing by Rs 294.50 and Rs 67.32 respectively to close at Rs 7894.50 and Rs 964.94 while Philip Morris Pak and Island Textile were the top losers declining by Rs 50.09 and Rs 48.52 respectively to close at Rs 1750.01 and Rs 1158.04.

BR Automobile Assembler Index surged by 249.8 points or 3.65 percent to close at 7,092.58 points with total turnover of 12.039 million shares.

BR Cement Index increased by 99.03 points or 2.0 percent to close at 5,060.10 points with 59.836 million shares.

BR Commercial Banks Index lost 1.33 points or 0.02 percent to close at 7,352.80 points with 24.757 million shares.

BR Power Generation and Distribution Index declined by 73.05 points or 1.52 percent to close at 4,730.21 points with 35.792 million shares.

BR Oil and Gas Index gained 26.26 points or 0.66 percent to close at 3,980.70 points with 57.472 million shares.

BR Tech & Comm Index closed at 1,484.04 points, up 3.96 points or 0.27 percent with 40.204 million shares.

Ahsan Mehanti at Arif Habib Limited said that the stocks closed higher led by selected scrips across the board on speculation ahead of major corporate earnings announcements due this week.

He said higher global crude oil prices, ECC approvals on Rs 33 billion Naya Pakistan Project, agri subsidies, ADB approval for $250 million loan for Socio-Economic support and rupee stability amid plunge in FY20 current account deficit played a catalyst role in positive close.

Copyright Business Recorder, 2020