KARACHI: After witnessing mixed trend, Pakistan Stock Exchange on Wednesday closed on positive note due to fresh buying mainly by local investors. BRIndex100 gained 19.56 points or 0.45 percent to close at 4,410.77 points. During the session, the BRIndex-100 hit an intraday high of 4,427.37 and an intraday low of 4,389.67 points. Total volumes stood at 384.220 million shares.

BRIndex30 inched up by 157.98 points or 0.71 percent to close at 22,286.11 points with total daily turnover of 257.805 million shares.

KSE-100 index increased by 102.25 points or 0.24 percent and closed at 42,204.03 points. Daily trading volumes on ready counter increased to 438.146 million shares as compared to 409.741 million shares traded on Tuesday. The foreign investors however remained net sellers of shares worth $723,452. Total market capitalization increased by Rs 25 billion to Rs 7.739 trillion. Out of total 393 active scrips, 208 closed in positive and 162 in negative while the value of 23 stocks remained unchanged.

TRG Pak was the volume leader with 33.734 million shares and increased by Rs 2.85 to close at Rs 75.72 followed by Lotte Chemical that gained Re 0.94 to close at Rs 14.18 with 27.190 million shares. Unilever Foods and Nestle Pakistan were the top gainers increasing by Rs 1002.00 and Rs 150.00 respectively to close at Rs 14500.00 and Rs 6750.00 while Pak Tobacco and Sanofi-Aventis were the top losers declining by Rs 32.50 and Rs 22.50 respectively to close at Rs 1567.50 and Rs 777.50. BR Automobile Assembler Index lost 12.62 points or 0.15 percent to close at 8,337.83 points with total turnover of 4.872 million shares.

BR Cement Index closed at 6,027.83, down 3.33 points or 0.06 percent with 40.819 million shares.

BR Commercial Banks Index gained 13.03 points or 0.15 percent to close at 8,724.88 points with 22.426 million shares.

BR Power Generation and Distribution Index decreased by 37.59 points or 0.74 percent to close at 5,031.44 points with 15.624 million shares.

BR Oil and Gas Index inched up by 30.71 points or 0.79 percent to close at 3,915.59 points with 37.828 million shares.

BR Tech & Comm Index increased by 34.79 points or 1.52 percent to close at 2,325.89 points with 80.045 million shares. Danish Ladhani at JS Global Capital said that the KSE-100 index remained restrained between a high and a low of plus 248 and minus 71 points, respectively to finally close at 42,204 levels, up 102 points. Overall the market remained sideways with activity mostly seen in the E&Ps and financials where OGDC (up 1.6 percent), UBL (up 0.8 percent), HBL (up 0.5 percent), PPL (up 0.9 percent), NBP (up 1.9 percent) and POL (up 0.6 percent) were the movers of the day.

The market may remain under duress on political grounds as the Pakistan Democratic Movement (PDM) has announced that all members of parliament belonging to its constituent parties would submit their resignations in the wake of demanding resignation from the Prime Minister. Moreover, Federal Minister for Planning and Development Asad Umar has warned that the government may have no choice but to impose further restrictions in the next two weeks if the violation of coronavirus SOPs continues.

Copyright Business Recorder, 2020