KARACHI: Pakistan Stock Exchange Wednesday witnessed a mixed trend however closed on a positive note on the back of buying by local investors.

BRIndex100 gained 8.42 points or 0.19 percent to close at 4,375.52 points. BRIndex100 hit intraday high of 4,398.82 and intraday low of 4,329.28 points. Volumes stood at 622.928 million shares.

BRIndex30 lost 64.37 points or 0.29 percent to close at 22,469.11 points with a turnover of 355.330 million shares.

The KSE-100 Index inched up by 37.06 points or 0.09 percent and once again crossed 42,000 crucial level to close at 42,022.25 points. Trading activities remained low as daily volumes on ready counter decreased to 707.013 million shares as compared to 884.370 million shares traded on Tuesday.

Foreign investors however remained sellers of shares worth $1.314 million. Total market capitalization increased by Rs 17 billion to Rs 7.876 trillion. Out of total 430 active scrips, 229 closed in positive and 183 in negative while the value of 18 stocks remained unchanged.

Hascol Petroleum was the volume leader with 75.616 million shares however lost Rs 0.26 to close at Rs 21.16 followed by PTCL that gained Rs 0.95 to close at Rs 11.27 with 63.041 million shares. Nestle Pakistan and Island Textile were the top gainers increasing by Rs 83.70 and Rs 67.79 respectively to close at Rs 6582.00 and Rs 1030.00 while Unilever Foods and Colgate Palmolive were the top losers declining by Rs 359.00 and Rs 54.57 respectively to close at Rs 12500.00 and Rs 3400.00.

BR Automobile Assembler Index closed at 7,929.03 points, down 0.31 points with total turnover of 10.489 million shares. BR Cement Index lost 1.62 points or 0.03 percent to close at 5,954.71 points with 48.115 million shares.

BR Commercial Banks Index gained 44.72 points or 0.53 percent to close at 8,407.58 points with 37.527 million shares.

BR Power Generation and Distribution Index decreased by 49.37 points or 0.96 percent to close at 5,068.69 points with 26.053 million shares.

BR Oil and Gas Index declined by 54.01 points or 1.28 percent to close at 4,157.31 points with 90.811 million shares.

BR Tech. & Comm. Index increased by 68.98 points or 3.46 percent to close at 2,064.55 points with 172.929 million shares.

Ahsan Mehanti at Arif Habib Corporation said that stocks closed higher led by cement and banking scrips on strong valuations.

Mid-session pressure remained on Fitch ratings earnings over likely surge in current account deficit to 1.7 percent of GDP in FY21 on falling remittances, higher debt.

He said PM commitments for a 1.1 trillion uplift package for Karachi and likely status quo in SBP key policy rate decisions this month played a catalyst role in bullish close.

Copyright Business Recorder, 2020