KARACHI: Pakistan Stock Exchange Friday closed the week on a strong positive note on the back of healthy buying, mainly by local investors and institutions. BRIndex100 gained 41.77 points or 0.85 percent to close at 4,973.94 points. BRIndex100 hit intraday high of 5,007.80 and intraday low of 4,931.83 points. Volumes stood at 791.825 million shares.

BRIndex30 surged by 464.2 points or 1.82 percent to close at 25,905.41 points with a turnover of 642.603 million shares.

The KSE-100 Index increased by 219.49 points or 0.48 percent to close at 46,385.54 points. Daily trading volumes on the ready counter stood at 840.296 million shares as compared to 844.002 million shares traded Thursday.

Foreign investors however remained net sellers of shares worth $3.512 million. Total market capitalization increased by Rs 39 billion to Rs 8.398 trillion. Out of total 425 active scrips, 229 closed in positive and 182 in negative while the value of 14 stocks remained unchanged.

K-Electric was the volume leader with 141.575 million shares and gained Rs 0.30 to close at Rs 4.39 followed by Silk Bank that inched up by Rs 0.09 to close at Rs 1.63 with 80.667 million shares. Sapphire Textile and Pak Tobacco were the top gainers increasing by Rs 74.49 and Rs 69.99 respectively to close at Rs 1091.99 and Rs 1669.99 while Rafhan Maize and Unilever Foods were the top losers declining by Rs 700.00 and Rs 200.00 respectively to close at Rs 9800.00 and Rs 14300.00.

BR Automobile Assembler Index gained 31.25 points or 0.37 percent to close at 8,534.61 points with 4.212 million shares.

BR Cement Index increased by 80.82 points or 1.22 percent to close at 6,719.53 points with total turnover of 69.167 million shares.

BR Commercial Banks Index decreased by 52.61 points or 0.56 percent to close at 9,404.00 points with 112.731 million shares.

BR Power Generation and Distribution Index inched up by 70.74 points or 1.21 percent to close at 5,916.34 points with 153.604 million shares.

BR Oil and Gas Index lost 4.21 points or 0.1 percent to close at 4,144.70 points with 36.363 million shares. BR Tech. & Comm. Index closed at 3,366.03 points, up 101.59 points or 3.11 percent with 84.791 million shares.

An analyst at Arif Habib Limited said that the market ramped another 491 points during the session, closing up 219 points.

Profit booking during the second half of the session brought the index down however, investor sentiment remained bullish.

Cement sector performed well, which was on the back of anticipation of better results in the outgoing quarter as well as growth in dispatches.

Power sector saw KEL leading the volumes with the hint of resolution of dispute between SSGC and KEL.

Among OMCs, PSO led the pack despite deferment of ECC decision on OMC dealer margins. Expectation of quarterly results largely drove the sentiments on Friday, which was the last day of the rollover week as well.

Sectors contributing to the performance include Technology (up 67 points), Cement (up 61 points), Power (up 32 points), Inv Banks (up 25 points) and Pharma (up 25 points).

Stocks that contributed positively to the index include TRG (up 75 points), DGKC (up 26 points), DAWH (up 24 points), PAKT (up 20 points) and INIL (up 20 points). Stocks that contributed negatively include MCB (down 24 points), FFC (down 21 points), HMB (down 14 points), UBL (down 13 points) and POL (down 11 points).

Copyright Business Recorder, 2021