KARACHI: Pakistan Stock Exchange on Wednesday witnessed positive trend and partially recovered its overnight losses. The benchmark KSE-100 index surged by 448.88 points or 1.17 percent and closed at 38,791.09 points. During the session, the index hit 38,944.29 points intra-day high and 38,259.86 points intra-day low level.

Trading activities however remained low as total daily volumes on ready counter decreased to 153.090 million shares as compared to 205.906 million shares traded on Tuesday while total daily traded value on ready counter declined to Rs 5.010 billion against previous session’s Rs 6.710 billion.

BRIndex100 gained 66.98 points or 1.78 percent to close at 3,824.35 points with total daily turnover of 132.461 million shares.

BRIndex30 increased by 278.92 points or 2.14 percent to close at 13,290.36 points with total daily trading volumes of 103.686 million shares.

The foreign investors also remained net buyers of shares worth $1.550 million. Total market capitalization increased by Rs 35 billion to Rs 6.169 trillion. Out of total 312 active scrips, 184 closed in positive and 109 in negative while the value of 19 stocks remained unchanged.

WorldCall Telecom was the volume leader with 19.038 million shares and gained Re 0.03 to close at Rs 1.13 followed by K-Electric that inched up by Re 0.12 to close at Rs 2.19 with 13.145 million shares. TRG Pak increased by Rs 4.28 to close at Rs 96.58 with 10.185 million shares.

Bhanero Textile and Systems Limited were the top gainers increasing by Rs 71.11 and Rs 22.69 respectively to close at Rs 1019.31 and Rs 480.73 while Nestle Pakistan and Pak Services were the top losers declining by Rs 287.00 and Rs 161.17 respectively to close at Rs 5308.00 and Rs 1987.83.

“After two gloomy sessions, the bulls returned to the PSX,” an analyst at Arif Habib Limited said. The market opened in the green and remained in that range as investors choose to cherry picking selective equities at appealing levels in search of value to add to their portfolios. Following the governor of the SBP’s much-needed clarification on the LCs issue, investor involvement grew dramatically resulting in the index making an intraday high of plus 603.76 points. Main-board volumes remained healthy.

Sectors contributing to the performance include Technology & Communication (up 165.4 points), Fertilizer (up 100.3 points), E&P (up 84.1 points), Power Generation & Distribution (up 44.9 points), and Commercial Banks (up 38.6 points).

BR Automobile Assembler Index added 107.36 points or 1.5 percent to close at 7,250.52 points with total turnover of 2.203 million shares.

BR Cement Index gained 43.59 points or 1.26 percent to close at 3,494.41 points with 5.794 million shares.

BR Commercial Banks Index inched up by 42.56 points or 0.57 percent to close at 7,561.21 points with 13.803 million shares.

BR Power Generation and Distribution Index increased by 111.83 points or 1.85 percent to close at 6,160.06 points with 18.046 million shares.

BR Oil and Gas Index closed at 3,785.46 points, up 66.95 points or 1.8 percent with 27.049 million shares.

BR Tech & Comm Index surged by 165.55 points or 4.26 percent to close at 4,049.76 points with 40.124 million shares.

An analyst at Topline Securities said that Pakistan equities closed positive where the benchmark KSE-100 Index settled at 38,791 level, up 1.17 percent.

Range bound activity witnessed in the first half of the session however market witnessed recovery in the second half where the market made an intraday high of plus 603 points as Governor State Bank Jameel Ahmed while speaking at FPCCI gave the good news that foreign exchange reserves will start coming from next week.

Major positive contributors in the trading session were SYS, TRG, ENGRO, HUBC and OGDC cumulatively added 262 points in the KSE-100 Index.

Copyright Business Recorder, 2023