KARACHI: Pakistan Stock Exchange Friday closed on a positive note on the back of fresh buying, mainly by local investors.

BRIndex100 gained 19.42 points or 0.44 percent to close at 4,439.05 points. BRIndex100 hit intraday high of 4,441.51 and intraday low of 4,400.24 points. Volumes stood at 466.622 million shares.

BRIndex30 inched up by 64.82 points or 0.29 percent to close at 22,676.55 points with a turnover of 334.688 million shares.

The KSE-100 Index increased by 170.00 points or 0.40 percent and closed at 42,504.76 points. Trading activity also improved as daily volumes on ready counter increased to 516.126 million shares as compared to 508.691 million shares traded Thursday.

Foreign investors however remained net sellers of shares worth $157,383. Total market capitalization increased by Rs 24 billion to Rs 7.945 trillion. Out of total 417 active scrips, 210 closed in negative and 184 in positive while the value of 23 stocks remained unchanged.

Pak Int. Bulk Terminal was the volume leader with 75.507 million shares and gained Rs 0.63 to close at Rs 13.98 followed by Unity Foods that increased by Rs 1.26 to close at Rs 18.09 with 45.277 million shares. Nestle Pakistan and Sapphire Fiber were the top gainers increasing by Rs 112.32 and Rs 30.36 respectively to close at Rs 6993.33 and Rs 706.37 while Premier Sugar and Pak Tobacco were the top losers declining by Rs 40.00 and Rs 30.00 respectively to close at Rs 510.00 and Rs 1700.00.

BR Automobile Assembler Index increased by 65.24 points or 0.83 percent to close at 7,972.57 points with total turnover of 3.621 million shares.

BR Cement Index decreased by 37.05 points or 0.62 percent to close at 5,973.32 points with 27.986 million shares.

BR Commercial Banks Index gained 62.31 points or 0.73 percent to close at 8,560.90 points with 21.207 million shares.

BR Power Generation and Distribution Index lost 17.99 points or 0.35 percent to close at 5,177.36 points with 76.456 million shares.

BR Oil and Gas Index surged by 44 points or 1.05 percent to close at 4,235.40 points with 34.782 million shares.

BR Tech. & Comm. Index inched up by 2.87 points or 0.14 percent to close at 1,990.54 points with 47.189 million shares.

"Right before the announcement of monetary policy (scheduled for Monday, September 21) and rebalancing of FTSE, market responded positively with OGDC, PSO, ENGRO and UBL to add price gains on the index. UNITY saw brisk activity with high volumes and hitting upper circuit on the back of expectation of higher earnings, short sell positions and the proximity of right shares which will be credited to investors' accounts September 25.

Rebound in international crude oil prices helped OGDC, PPL and especially POL put a recovery, whereas KEL also reaped high volumes among Power sector stocks. Cement sector saw selling pressure without losing much on stock prices of underlying stocks.

Transport sector topped the volumes with 78.1 million shares, followed by Power (76.4 million shares) and Food (66.9 million shares).

Sectors contributing to the performance include E&P (up 75 points), Banks (up 72 points), Fertilizer (up 35 points), Autos (up 15 points) and Transport (up 13 points).

Stocks that contributed positively to the index include OGDC (up 43 points), FFC (up 28 points), UBL (up 27 points), MEBL (up 20 points) and POL (up 15 points). Stocks that contributed negatively include KAPCO (down 19 points), DAWH (down 14 points), PAKT (down 9 points), EPCL (down 7 points) and LUCK (down 7 points).

Copyright Business Recorder, 2020