KARACHI: Pakistan Stock Exchange on Friday witnessed a bullish trend and closed on strong positive note with healthy gains on the back of brisk buying by local and foreign investors. BRIndex100 gained 32.88 points or 0.65 percent to close at 5,118.93 points. BRIndex100 hit intraday high of 5,136.71 points and intraday low of 5,077.30 points. Volumes stood at 876.525 million shares.

BRIndex30 inched up by 31.19 points or 0.12 percent to close at 26,610.83 points with total daily turnover of 679.130 million shares. The KSE-100 Index increased by 335.54 points or 0.72 percent to cross 47,000 psychological level to close at 47,126.29 points, the highest level since June 2017. Daily trading volumes on ready counter stood at 959.886 million shares as compared to 2,220.056 million shares traded on Thursday. Daily traded value stood at Rs 22.748 billion as compared to Rs 42.838 billion a day earlier.

Foreign investors also remained net buyers of shares worth $3.336 million. Total market capitalization increased by Rs 65 billion to Rs 8.131 trillion. Out of total 414 active scrips, 239 closed in positive and 160 in negative while the value of 15 stocks remained unchanged.

WorldCall Telecom was the volume leader with 381.390 million shares however lost Rs 0.24 to close at Rs 3.00 followed by Silk Bank that gained Rs 0.06 to close at Rs 1.58 with 56.306 million shares. Unilever Foods and Island Textile were the top gainers increasing by Rs 374.00 and Rs 167.30 respectively to close at Rs 15990.00 and Rs 2398.30 while Rafhan Maize and Colgate Palmolive were the top losers declining by Rs 50.00 and Rs 45.00 respectively to close at Rs 9300.00 and Rs 2805.00.

BR Automobile Assembler Index increased by 107.42 points or 1.17 percent to close at 9,299.43 points with total turnover of 3.161 million shares.

BR Cement Index inched up by 3.97 points or 0.05 percent to close at 7,492.03 points with 25.158 million shares. BR Commercial Banks Index added 94.29 points or 1.02 percent to close at 9,350.14 points with 87.677 million shares.

BR Power Generation and Distribution Index gained 28.93 points or 0.52 percent to close at 5,548.45 points with 28.369 million shares.

BR Oil and Gas Index closed at 4,046.98 points, up 85.15 points or 2.15 percent with 56.671 million shares.

BR Tech. & Comm. Index lost 13.41 points or 0.31 percent to close at 4,302.06 points with 476.148 million shares.

Neelam Naz at JS Global Capital said that the market closed with a gain of 336 points at 47,126 level - the highest level since June 2017 - with 960 million shares traded during the day. Nearly 40 percent of the total volume was seen in WTL alone, a phenomenon which was prevalent throughout the week.

E&Ps and Technology were two sectors that remained in the limelight. Important news flows during the day included the expected approval by the Annual Plan Coordination Committee of Rs 900 billion as the Federal PSDP for FY22 and Bestway Cement Limited's Greenfield expansion.

Copyright Business Recorder, 2021