KARACHI: Pakistan Stock Exchange Monday witnessed a mixed trend as investors remained cautious in taking fresh positions.

BRIndex100 closed at 4,829.94 points, fractionally up by 0.48 points or 0.01 percent. BRIndex100 hit intraday high of 4,883.43 and intraday low of 4,818.68 points. Volumes stood at 545.444 million shares.

BRIndex30 inched up by 9.82 points or 0.04 percent to close at 24,180.76 points with a turnover of 398.232 million shares. The KSE-100 Index lost 48.92 points or 0.11 percent to close at 45,605.42 points. Trading activity remained low as daily volumes on ready counter decreased to 588.039 million shares as compared to 696.434 million shares traded on previous session.

The market capitalization declined by Rs 13 billion to Rs 8.298 trillion. Out of total 415 active scrips, 227 closed in negative and 173 in positive while the value of 15 stocks remained unchanged.

Silk Bank was the volume leader with 69.918 million shares and gained Rs 0.13 to close at Rs 1.22 followed by Hum Network that increased by Rs 1.00 to close at Rs 7.43 with 64.056 million shares. Colgate Palmolive and Service Industries were the top gainers increasing by Rs 145.00 and Rs 35.38 respectively to close at Rs 3200.00 and Rs 875.89 while Sapphire Textile and Nestle Pakistan were the top losers declining by Rs 47.61 and Rs 37.09 respectively to close at Rs 912.01 and Rs 6770.00.

BR Automobile Assembler Index declined by 84.13 points or 0.97 percent to close at 8,582.40 points with a total turnover of 5.749 million shares.

BR Cement Index lost 16.7 points or 0.27 percent to close at 6,235.02 points with 22.627 million shares.

BR Commercial Banks Index fell by 23.28 points or 0.25 percent to close at 9,470.94 points with 140.419 million shares.

BR Power Generation and Distribution Index increased by 107.69 points or 1.92 percent to close at 5,707.05 points with 45.817 million shares.

BR Oil and Gas Index closed at 4,278.44 points, down 6.57 points or 0.15 percent with 20.597 million shares. BR Tech. & Comm. Index decreased by 13.17 points or 0.49 percent to close at 2,692.94 points with 92.532 million shares.

An analyst at Arif Habib Limited said that the KSE-100 Index crossed another milestone of 46,000 by posting a total increase of 455 points during the session; however, profit booking eroded all the gains and the index saw a decline of 125 points as well before closing at 45,605.42 level down 48.92 points. International crude oil prices remained range bound that caused the lackluster activity in E&P stocks. Similarly, profit booking in Banks and O&GMCs contributed to the attrition in Index. Fertilizer sector stocks inched up on the expectation of an increase in Urea prices, however, profit booking kept the rise in check.

During the session, SBP Governor hinted successful resumption of IMF program that helped built positive investor sentiment.

Sectors contributing to the performance include Banks (down 49 points), Technology (down 24 points), Textile (down 20 points), E&P (down 14 points), Power (up 50 points), Pharma (up 45 points) and Chemical (up 14 points).

Stocks that contributed positively to the index include SEARL (up 44 points), KAPCO (up 31 points), COLG (up 24 points), HUBC (up 18 points) and BAHL (up 11 points). Stocks that contributed negatively include UBL (down 26 points), MEBL (down 22 points), PPL (down 17 points), TRG (down 15 points) and MCB (down 13 points).

Copyright Business Recorder, 2021