KARACHI: Pakistan Stock Exchange Thursday remained under pressure however sporadic buying in blue chip stocks at the fag end supported the market to close on a positive note.

BRIndex100 gained 12.87 points or 0.31 percent to close at 4,221.13 points. BRIndex100 hit intraday high of 4,221.13 and intraday low of 4,208.26 points. Volumes stood at 350.966 million shares.

BRIndex30 inched up by 67.19 points or 0.32 percent to close at 21,378.74 points with a turnover of 258.078 million shares.

The KSE-100 Index increased by 105.44 points or 0.31 percent and closed at 40,676.92 points. Trading activities remained thin as daily volumes on ready counter decreased to 371.732 million shares as compared to 473.730 million shares traded on Wednesday.

The foreign investors also remained net sellers of shares worth $176,988. Total market capitalization increased by Rs 6 billion to Rs 7.649 trillion. Out of total 399 active scrips, 230 closed in negative and 153 in positive while the value of 16 stocks remained unchanged.

Hascol Petroleum was the volume leader with 67.646 million shares however declined by Rs 1.51 to close at Rs 18.67 followed by K-Electric that closed at Rs 4.15, down Rs 0.06 with 28.892 million shares. Nestle Pakistan and Sapphire Textile were the top gainers increasing by Rs 100.00 and Rs 67.49 respectively to close at Rs 6700.00 and Rs 967.48 while Rafhan Maize and Bhanero Textile were the top losers declining by Rs 200.00 and Rs 67.64 respectively to close at Rs 8300.00 and Rs 834.23.

BR Automobile Assembler Index lost 45.79 points or 0.62 percent to close at 7,319.04 points with total turnover of 4.424 million shares. BR Cement Index increased by 64.06 points or 1.14 percent to close at 5,674.56 points with 42.694 million shares.

BR Commercial Banks Index gained 74.77 points or 0.91 percent to close at 8,306.63 points with 22.025 million shares.

BR Power Generation and Distribution Index decreased by 34.9 points or 0.72 percent to close at 4,815.50 points with 34.798 million shares.

BR Oil and Gas Index closed at 4,007.69 points, down 2.34 points or 0.06 percent with 75.540 million shares.

BR Tech. & Comm. Index fell by 35.32 points or 1.95 percent to close at 1,774.44 points with 41.344 million shares.

An analyst at Arif Habib Limited said that selling pressure continued unabated, which saw KSE-100 Index slipping another 458 points during the session, however, sporadic buying in blue chip stocks especially cement sector and otherwise HBL and UBL among banks and PSO in O&GMCs brought the index back into positive.

Last half hour saw index posting a gain of 110 points and closed at 40,676.92 points, up 105.44 points or 0.3 percent. Past sessions have seen the effect of redemptions from mutual fund investors to cause havoc in otherwise calm market. Market has lost roughly 2000 points from its recent highs and in the process has brought attrition in cement, steel and banking sector scrips.

Sectors contributing to the performance include Banks (up 94 points), Cement (up 51 points), Chemical (up 20 points), E&P (up 16 points) and Technology (down 25 points).

Stocks that contributed positively to the index include HBL (up 30 points), MCB (up 30 points), UBL (up 28 points), DGKC (up 25 points) and ENGRO (up 19 points). Stocks that contributed negatively include TRG (down 21 points), HASCOL (down 20 points), MEBL (down 18 points), BAHL (down 9 points) and HUBC (down 9 points).

Copyright Business Recorder, 2020