KARACHI: Pakistan Stock Exchange Wednesday remained under pressure for most part of the session, however fresh buying at the fag end supported the market to close on a positive note.

The benchmark KSE-100 Index hit 41,450.53 points intraday high and 40,920.01 points intraday low before closing at 41,326.86 points, up 176.70 points or 0.43 percent.

Trading activity however remained thin as daily volumes on ready counter decreased to 137.377 million shares as compared to 187.532 million shares traded Tuesday while total daily traded value on ready counter declined to Rs 6.115 billion against Rs 7.858 billion.

BRIndex100 gained 30.62 points or 0.75 percent to close at 4,136.92 points with total daily turnover of 122.864 million shares.

BRIndex30 increased by 189.78 points or 1.29 percent to close at 14,874.64 points with total daily trading volumes of 83.446 million shares.

Foreign investors also remained net buyers of shares worth $604,796. Total market capitalization increased by Rs 5 billion to Rs 6.485 trillion. Out of total 321 active scrips, 156 closed in negative and 149 in positive while the value of 16 stocks remained unchanged.

WorldCall Telecom was the volume leader with 12.584 million shares and closed at Rs 1.24, up Rs 0.01 followed by Cnergyico PK that gained Rs 0.02 to close at Rs 3.71 with 7.819 million shares. Hub Power Company increased by Rs 2.11 to close at Rs 67.15 with 7.228 million shares.

Bata Pak and Sapphire Textile were the top gainers increasing by Rs 80.00 and Rs 79.91 respectively to close at Rs 1880.00 and Rs 1179.90 while Unilever Foods and Pak Services were the top losers declining by Rs 1574.50 and Rs 134.44, respectively to close at Rs 19426.00 and Rs 1658.21.

An analyst at Arif Habib Limited said that a positive session was witnessed at PSX. The KSE-100 Index opened in red zone although during first half of the day investors involvement remained sluggish as they adopted for cautious approach knowing mini budget approval in the National Assembly was awaited, however in the last trading hours bulls took charge and drove the index to reach an intraday high of plus 307.60 points to finish in the green. Decent volumes were recorded across the board.

Sectors contributing to the performance include Technology & Communication (up 72.9 points), E&P (up 65.5 points), Power Generation & Distribution (up 51.8 points), Cement (up 38.2 points), and Automobile Assembler (up 21.1 points).

BR Automobile Assembler Index increased by 103.08 points or 1.41 percent to close at 7,416.89 points with total turnover of 990,161 shares.

BR Cement Index gained 40.08 points or 1.08 percent to close at 3,758.35 points with 13.544 million shares.

BR Commercial Banks Index inched up by 6.62 points or 0.08 percent to close at 8,145.19 points with 18.657 million shares.

BR Power Generation and Distribution Index surged by 119.31 points or 1.8 percent to close at 6,759.10 points with 12.604 million shares.

BR Oil and Gas Index added 37.86 points or 0.9 percent to close at 4,264.31 points with 22.560 million shares.

BR Tech. & Comm. Index closed at 4,217.65 points, up 72.11 points or 1.74 percent with 26.795 million shares.

An analyst at Topline Securities said that Pakistan equities closed positive where the benchmark KSE-100 Index settled at 41,326 level, up 0.43 percent).

Range bound activity was witnessed at the bourse where the market made an intraday high of plus 307 points and a low of minus 231 points. Major positive contributors in the trading session were SYS, HUBC, HBL, OGDC and UBL cumulatively added 211 points in KSE-100 Index.

Copyright Business Recorder, 2023