KARACHI: Pakistan Stock Exchange Thursday closed on a positive note due to buying, mainly by local investors.

BRIndex100 gained 10.06 points or 0.23 percent to close at 4,419.63 points. BRIndex100 hit intraday high of 4,454.29 and intraday low of 4,412.72 points. Volumes stood at 460.761 million shares.

BRIndex30 inched up by 35.06 points or 0.16 percent to close at 22,611.73 points with a turnover of 273.292 million shares.

The KSE-100 Index increased by 52.48 points or 0.12 percent to close at 42,334.76 points. Trading activities also improved as daily volumes on ready counter increased to 508.691 million shares as compared to 489.600 million shares traded on Wednesday.

Foreign investors however remained net sellers of shares worth $1.301 million. Total market capitalization increased by Rs 6 billion to Rs 7.921 trillion. Out of total 414 active scrips, 200 closed in positive and 197 in negative while the value of 17 stocks remained unchanged.

PTCL was the volume leader with 78.666 million shares and gained Rs 0.95 to close at Rs 11.71 followed by Unity Foods that inched up by Rs 0.52 to close at Rs 16.83 with 45.248 million shares. Unilever Foods and Colgate Palmolive were the top gainers increasing by Rs 480.00 and Rs 25.00 respectively to close at Rs 13,980.00 and Rs 3425.00 while Nestle Pakistan and Hinopak Motor were the top losers declining by Rs 118.99 and Rs 45.17 respectively to close at Rs 6881.01 and Rs 714.59.

BR Automobile Assembler Index decreased by 36.65 points or 0.46 percent to close at 7,907.33 points with total turnover of 3.562 million shares.

BR Cement Index gained 7.16 points or 0.12 percent to close at 6,010.37 points with 35.204 million shares.

BR Commercial Banks Index lost 1.93 points or 0.02 percent to close at 8,498.59 points with 29.023 million shares.

BR Power Generation and Distribution Index inched up by 28.3 points or 0.55 percent to close at 5,195.35 points with 47.576 million shares.

BR Oil and Gas Index closed at 4,191.40 points, up 12.86 points or 0.31 percent with 43.262 million shares.

BR Tech. & Comm. Index increased by 24.89 points or 1.27 percent to close at 1,987.67 points with 108.618 million shares.

An analyst at Arif Habib Limited said that the market opened on a positive note with plus 193 points and added a total of 350 points on the index. Selling pressure eroded most of the gains by the end of session, closing the index plus 53 points. Financial results of DGKC helped the stock post price gains.

Among technology stocks, PTC hit upper circuit whereas Chemical sector helped EPCL touch recent times high.

Technology sector topped the volumes with 108.6 million shares, followed by Power (47.5 million shares) and Vanaspati (45.2 million shares).

Sectors contributing to the performance include Chemical (up 23 points), Technology (up 17 points), E&P (up 14 points), Insurance (down 15 points) and Pharma (down 7 points).

Stocks that contributed positively to the index include EPCL (up 20 points), POL (up 14 points), PTC (up 13 points), PSO (up 13 points) and ENGRO (up 12 points). Stocks that contributed negatively include FFC (down 12 points), AICL (down 9 points), JLICL (down 8 points), NESTLE (down 6 points) and ABL (down 5 points).

Copyright Business Recorder, 2020