KARACHI: Pakistan Stock Exchange Wednesday witnessed a positive trend on the back of fresh buying, mainly by local investors.

BRIndex100 gained 28.61 points or 0.64 percent to close at 4,521.40 points. BRIndex100 hit intraday high of 4,536.51 and intraday low of 4,486.98 points. Volumes stood at 297.893 million shares.

BRIndex30 increased by 190.34 points or 0.85 percent to close at 22,594.09 points with a turnover of 161.837 million shares.

The KSE-100 Index surged by 180.76 points or 0.42 percent and crossed 43,000 psychological level to close at 43,087.70 points. Trading activity however remained low as daily volumes on ready counter decreased to 378.938 million shares as compared to 561.855 million shares traded on Tuesday.

Foreign investors however remained net sellers of shares worth $137,799. Total market capitalization increased by Rs 13 billion to Rs 7.899 trillion. Out of total 387 active scrips, 231 closed in positive and 136 in negative while the value of 20 stocks remained unchanged.

Pak Refinery was the volume leader with 26.978 million shares and increased by Rs 1.03 to close at Rs 20.38 followed by Maple Leaf that gained Rs 1.87 to close at Rs 41.94 with 17.667 million shares. Gillette Pak and Premier Sugar were the top gainers increasing by Rs 39.29 and Rs 29.00 respectively to close at Rs 563.25 and Rs 449.00 while Sapphire Textile and Nestle Pakistan were the top losers declining by Rs 76.30 and Rs 62.50 respectively to close at Rs 968.02 and Rs 6637.50.

BR Automobile Assembler Index surged by 151.35 points or 1.83 percent to close at 8,442.38 points with total turnover of 9.988 million shares.

BR Cement Index increased by 112.98 points or 1.89 percent to close at 6,075.11 points with 34.002 million shares.

BR Commercial Banks Index gained 24.79 points or 0.28 percent to close at 8,904.27 points with 21.322 million shares.

BR Power Generation and Distribution Index lost 1.18 points or 0.02 percent to close at 4,962.22 points with 8.389 million shares.

BR Oil and Gas Index inched up by 3.24 points or 0.08 percent to close at 3,993.94 points with 21.314 million shares.

BR Tech. & Comm. Index closed at 2,409.09 points, down 5.49 points or 0.23 percent with 58.103 million shares.

Ahsan Mehanti at Arif Habib Corporation said that the stocks showed recovery on strong earnings outlook and surge in global crude oil prices. He said upbeat economic data on current account surplus of $447 million in November 2020, $1.7 billion debt relief, surging exports, auto sales, cement and fertilizer sales and $11.8 billion home remittances for July-November 2020 played a catalyst role in bullish close.

Copyright Business Recorder, 2020