KARACHI: Pakistan Stock Exchange Tuesday closed on a positive note on the back of local investors and institutional support.

BRIndex100 gained 49.23 points or 1.25 percent to close at 3,993.25 points. BRIndex100 hit intraday high of 4,002.64 and intraday low of 3,944.19 points. Volumes stood at 360.427 million shares.

BRIndex30 increased by 191.48 points or 0.95 percent to close at 20,333.65 points with a turnover of 240.104 million shares.

The KSE-100 Index surged by 406.11 points or 1.06 percent to close at 38,627.27 points. Trading activity also improved as daily volumes on the ready counter increased to 394.297 million shares as compared to 288.103 million shares traded Monday.

Foreign investors remained net sellers of shares worth $2.672 million. The market capitalization increased by Rs 60 billion to Rs 7.214 trillion. Out of total 392 active scrips, 251 closed in positive, 122 in negative while the value of 19 stocks remained unchanged.

Pak Elektron was the volume leader with 26.292 million shares. It gained Re 0.24 to close at Rs 31.03 followed by Maple Leaf that increased by Rs 1.06 to close at Rs 31.77 with 26.160 million shares. Wyeth Pak and Philip Morris Pak were the top gainers with Rs 46.99 and Rs 24.99, respectively to close at Rs 994.49 and Rs 1,775.00. Nestle Pakistan and Sapphire Textile were the top losers with Rs 141.21 and Rs 51.99, respectively to close at Rs 6,577.12 and Rs 835.01.

BR Automobile Assembler Index increased by 104.96 points or 1.44 percent to close at 7,414.11 points with total turnover of 8.389 million shares.

BR Cement Index gained 99.11 points or 2.01 percent to close at 5,037.11 points with 59.687 million shares.

BR Commercial Banks Index surged by 149.76 points or 1.92 percent to close at 7,964.57 points with 60.920 million shares.

BR Power Generation and Distribution Index inched up by 23.27 points or 0.5 percent to close at 4,644.05 points with 14.617 million shares.

BR Oil and Gas Index gained 11.86 points or 0.3 percent to close at 3,943.40 points with 26.411 million shares.

BR Tech. & Comm. Index closed at 1,538.12 points, up 25.69 points or 1.7 percent with 35.618 million shares.

An analyst at Arif Habib Limited said that the market opened on a positive note with plus 158 points and posted a total gain of 480 points, ending the session up 406 points.

Banking sector remained in the limelight, which was further helped by cement, refinery, textile and chemicals. Profit selling was largely observed in E&P and fertilizer sectors, however, this did not affect the market sentiment. Two sessions are left prior to Eid over the weekend, however, investors look optimistic considering the ongoing results season, especially due to banks.

Banking sector led the volumes with 60.8 million shares, followed by cement (59.6 million shares) and technology (35.6 million shares).

Sectors contributing to the performance include Banks (up 173 points), Cement (up 73 points), Technology (up 29 points), Textile (up 21 points) and Autos (up 20 points).

Stocks that contributed positively to the index include LUCK (up 44 points), MEBL (up 42 points), BAHL (up 31 points), TRG (up 31 points) and MCB (up 30 points). Stocks that contributed negatively include DAWH (down 7 points), JLICL (down 7 points), NESTLE (down 6 points), ARPL (down 4 points) and FFC (down 3 points).

Copyright Business Recorder, 2020