KARACHI: Pakistan Stock Exchange Friday witnessed a rangebound session with low trading activity due to investors’ lack of interest. During the session, the market moved in both directions however managed to close on slight positive note due to buying in certain stocks.
The benchmark KSE-100 Index hit 41,748.89 points intraday high and 41,550.38 points intraday low before closing at 41,698.28 points, up 46.67 points or 0.11 percent.
Trading activity remained low as total daily volumes on the ready counter decreased to 191.388 million shares as compared to 227.834 million shares traded Thursday while daily traded value on ready counter declined to Rs 3.583 billion against previous session’s Rs 4.059 billion.
BRIndex100 inched up by 5.58 points or 0.13 percent to close at 4,163.91 points with total daily turnover of 148.864 million shares.
BRIndex30 gained 20.9 points or 0.14 percent to close at 15,347.23 points with total daily trading volumes of 82.992 million shares.
The market capitalization increased by Rs 11 billion to Rs 6.640 trillion. Out of total 322 active scrips, 160 closed in negative and 141 in positive while the value of 21 stocks remained unchanged.
WorldCall Telecom was the volume leader with 19.657 million shares and gained Rs 0.04 to close at Rs 1.38 followed by Media Times Limited that inched up by Rs 0.26 to close at Rs 2.29 with 15.028 million shares. Dewan Farooque Spinning lost Rs 0.22 to close at Rs 4.34 with 13.009 million shares.
Khyber Tobacco and Murree Brewery were the top gainers increasing by Rs 15.97 and Rs 15.49 respectively to close at Rs 411.11 and Rs 361.22 while Reliance Cotton and Premium Textile were the top losers declining by 45.04 and Rs 39.10 respectively to close at Rs 646.63 and Rs 624.90.
An analyst at Topline Securities said that range bound activity was observed at the local bourse as the index juggled between its intraday high of plus 96 points and intraday low of minus 101 points to finally close at 41,698 level, up by 0.11 percent.
Major contribution to the index came from UBL, PPL, HMB, OGDC and ISL, as they cumulatively contributed plus 74 points to the index. On the flip side HBL, HUBC, PSO, DAWH and FCCL lost value to weigh down on the index by minus 61 points.
BR Automobile Assembler Index lost 3.27 points or 0.04 percent to close at 8,331.62 points with total turnover of 6.004 million shares.
BR Cement Index inched up by 3.14 points or 0.08 percent to close at 4,024.25 points with 8.847 million shares.
BR Commercial Banks Index gained 32.08 points or 0.38 percent to close at 8,389.42 points with 9.056 million shares.
BR Power Generation and Distribution Index fell by 25.57 points or 0.38 percent to close at 6,683.11 points with 5.428 million shares.
BR Oil and Gas Index added 19.27 points or 0.51 percent to close at 3,817.91 points with 14.421 million shares.
BR Tech. & Comm. Index closed at 4,693.42 points, up 11.42 points or 0.24 percent with 52.808 million shares.
Ahsan Mehanti at Arif Habib Corporation said that stocks showed recovery led by select scrips on reports over advanced stage deal for finalisation of $4.2 billion Saudi support after dip in FX reserves and speculation over deliberations over Pak-Russia oil deal. He said likely release of the IMF’s $1.18 billion tranche and Pak Rupee stability played a catalyst role in positive close.
Copyright Business Recorder, 2022