KARACHI: Aggressive buying in almost all sectors Friday supported the Pakistan Stock Exchange to close on a strong positive note with healthy gains.

BRIndex100 gained 53.53 points or 1.07 percent to close at 5,047.92 points. BRIndex100 hit intraday high of 5,064.78 points and intraday low of 4,994.76 points. Volumes stood at 343.431 million shares.

BRIndex30 increased by 436.28 points or 1.77 percent to close at 25,110.36 points with a turnover of 210.512 million shares.

The KSE-100 Index surged by 573.17 points or 1.23 percent to cross 47,000 psychological level to close at 47,198.29 points. Trading activity also improved as daily volumes on ready counter increased to 427.445 million shares as compared to 396.430 million shares traded on Thursday.

Foreign investors however remained net sellers of shares worth $166,538. Total market capitalization increased by Rs 86 billion to Rs 8.255 trillion. Out of total 528 active scrips, 308 closed in positive and 203 in negative while the value of 17 stocks remained unchanged.

Azgard Nine was the volume leader with 39.673 million shares however lost Rs 0.25 to close at Rs 24.69 followed by Service Fab (R) that closed at Rs 2.78, down Rs 0.61 with 33.537 million shares. Unilever Foods and Rafhan Maize were the top gainers increasing by Rs 1500.00 and Rs 629.00 respectively to close at Rs 21,800.00 and Rs 11,479.00 while Wah-Noble and AKD Hospitality were the top losers declining by Rs 18.00 and Rs 15.01 respectively to close at Rs 300.00 and Rs 354.99.

BR Automobile Assembler Index increased by 102.28 points or 1.11 percent to close at 9,352.65 points with total turnover of 2.683 million shares.

BR Cement Index surged by 195.35 points or 3.04 percent to close at 6,618.54 points with 46.449 million shares.

BR Commercial Banks Index added 108.85 points or 1.17 percent to close at 9,445.33 points with 22.133 million shares.

BR Power Generation and Distribution Index lost 38.72 points or 0.69 percent to close at 5,561.27 points with 6.356 million shares.

BR Oil and Gas Index gained 9.53 points or 0.25 percent to close at 3,857.28 points with 9.215 million shares.

BR Tech. & Comm. Index closed at 5,256.01 points, up 156.99 points or 3.08 percent with 106.087 million shares.

Ahsan Mehanti at Arif Habib Corporation said that the stocks closed bullish led by scrips across-the-board on institutional interest in oversold scrips and reports of foreign inflows.

He said upbeat data on home remittances of over $2.66 billion in August 2021, record surge in cement dispatches by 22.7 percent in August 2021 and POL sales surging by 22 percent on year-on-year basis in period July-August’21 and surging local cement, steel and fertilizer prices played a catalyst role in bullish close.

Copyright Business Recorder, 2021