KARACHI: Pakistan Stock Exchange on Friday witnessed bullish trend on the back of healthy buying mainly in E&P and Refinery sectors.

The benchmark KSE-100 index increased by 290.78 points or 0.71 percent and crossed 41,000 psychological level to close at 41,007.52 points. During the session, the index hit 41,093.73 points intra-day high and 40,684.55 points intra-day low level.

Trading activities also improved as total daily volumes on ready counter increased to 181.976 million shares as compared to 111.790 million shares traded on Thursday while total daily traded value on ready counter increased to Rs 6.795 billion against previous session’s Rs 3.095 billion.

BRIndex100 gained 37.03 points or 0.92 percent to close at 4,069.90 points with total daily turnover of 167.193 million shares.

BRIndex30 surged by 279.81 points or 1.98 percent to close at 14,435.99 points with total daily trading volumes of 131.394 million shares.

The foreign investors also remained net buyers of shares worth $52,691. Total market capitalization increased by Rs 20 billion to Rs 6.509 trillion. Out of total 320 active scrips, 164 closed in positive and 139 in negative while the value of 17 stocks remained unchanged.

Cnergyico PK was the volume leader with 27.912 million shares and gained Re 0.27 to close at Rs 4.05 followed by K-Electric that closed at Rs 2.36, down Re 0.01 with 17.660 million shares. Pak Refinery increased by Re 0.80 to close at Rs 13.81 with 16.077 million shares.

Pak Services and Premium Textile were the top gainers increasing by Rs 130.00 and Rs 44.01 respectively to close at Rs 1905.00 and Rs 659.00 while Nestle Pakistan and Sapphire Fiber were the top losers declining by Rs 209.90 and Rs 101.07 respectively to close at Rs 5400.10 and Rs 1246.60.

An analyst at Arif Habib Limited said the week ended in the green zone for the PSX. The market opened positive in the first session, but activity remained subdued through the end of the session. However, the bulls rallied as soon as the second session resumed with the news of an IMF team visiting Pakistan in the next week, and volumes climbed significantly across the board. Although major activity was recorded in the E&P and Refineries sector in expectations of resolution of gas circular debt.

Sectors contributing to the performance include E&P (up 118.0 points), Technology & Communication (up 81.0 points), Miscellaneous (up 64.9 points), Fertilizer (up 62.3 points), and Inv. Banks / Inv. Cos. / Securities Cos. (up 35.4 points).

BR Automobile Assembler Index declined by 141.64 points or 1.9 percent to close at 7,328.71 points with total turnover of 2.738 million shares.

BR Cement Index gained 17.08 points or 0.45 percent to close at 3,791.40 points with 5.807 million shares.

BR Commercial Banks Index decreased by 79.42 points or 0.99 percent to close at 7,960.06 points with 8.719 million shares.

BR Power Generation and Distribution Index lost 2.33 points or 0.04 percent to close at 6,330.46 points with 23.036 million shares.

BR Oil and Gas Index surged by 84.71 points or 2.13 percent to close at 4,060.29 points with 30.620 million shares.

BR Tech & Comm Index increased by 91.22 points or 2.11 percent to close at 4,415.11 points with 26.624 million shares.

Ahsan Mehanti at Arif Habib Corporation said that stocks closed bullish on PM hints over IMF team visiting Pakistan in 2-3 days for 9th review on economy after PM affirmation to MD IMF for completing IMF bailout programme. Investors weigh PM talks with Chinese President to progress CPEC and likely gains over COAS visit to Saudi Arabia.

He said surging global crude oil prices, government slashing gas circular debt and speculations ahead of major earning announcements next week played a catalyst role in bullish close.

Copyright Business Recorder, 2023