KARACHI: Pakistan Stock Exchange Wednesday witnessed a bullish trend due to fresh buying, mainly in E&P, Fertilizer and Cement sectors.

The benchmark KSE-100 Index surged by 321.34 points or 0.81 percent and crossed 40,000 psychological level to close at 40,126.05 points. The index hit 40,174.20 points intraday high and 39,800.47 points intraday low.

Trading activity also improved as daily volumes on ready counter increased to 79.825 million shares as compared to 59.669 million shares traded Tuesday. The traded value on ready counter increased to Rs 2.569 billion against previous session’s Rs 1.370 billion.

BRIndex100 gained 45.11 points or 1.12 percent to close at 4,088.16 points with total daily turnover of 68.403 million shares.

BRIndex30 increased by 167.74 points or 1.16 percent to close at 14,618.12 points with total daily trading volumes of 45.821 million shares.

The foreign investors also remained net buyers of shares worth $1.527 million. The market capitalization increased by Rs 35 billion to Rs 6.100 trillion. Out of total 328 active scrips, 172 closed in positive and 134 in negative while the value of 22 stocks remained unchanged.

K-Electric was the volume leader with 8.382 million shares and closed on previous session’s closing level of Rs 2.00 without any change followed by WorldCall Telecom that inched up by Rs 0.01 to close at Rs 1.17 with 4.108 million shares. PPL increased by Rs 2.13 to close at Rs 66.98 with 3.773 million shares.

Sapphire Fiber and Khyber Textile were the top gainers increasing by Rs 67.50 and Rs 40.00, respectively to close at Rs 967.60 and Rs 650.00 while Unilever Foods and Sapphire Textile were the top losers declining by Rs 100.00 and Rs 88.83 respectively to close at Rs 18300.00 and Rs 1099.00.

An analyst at Arif Habib Limited said that a positive session was witnessed at PSX. The KSE-100 Index opened in the green and continued to trade with positive sentiments throughout the trading session, reaching an intraday high of plus 368.05 points due to media reports suggesting UAE’s written assurance to IMF to provide $1.0 billion to Pakistan, for unlocking the delayed tranche of the IMF’s Extended Facility Fund in upcoming weeks.

Although Investors’ participation remained sluggish during the trading session volumes in the main board remained dry while third tier companies continued to dominate the volume board.

Sectors contributing to the performance include Technology & Communication (up 95.2 points), Commercial Banks (up 81.1 points), E&P (up 77.5 points), Fertilizer (up 33.5 points) and Power Generation & Distribution (up 9.6 points).

BR Automobile Assembler Index lost 22.14 points or 0.29 percent to close at 7,532.74 points with total turnover of 905,515 shares.

BR Cement Index gained 14.74 points or 0.38 percent to close at 3,879.84 points with 6.387 million shares.

BR Commercial Banks Index increased by 90.12 points or 1.11 percent to close at 8,219.99 points with 12.918 million shares.

BR Power Generation and Distribution Index inched up by 23.94 points or 0.34 percent to close at 7,029.05 points with 11.912 million shares.

BR Oil and Gas Index added 50.74 points or 1.31 percent to close at 3,931.05 points with 10.297 million shares.

BR Tech. & Comm. Index surged by 95.08 points or 2.32 percent to close at 4,191.00 points with 7.521 million shares.

Muhammad Waqar Iqbal at JS Global Capital said that Pakistan equities posted a positive session after two days of lackluster trading volumes. Participation was high due to upcoming result season. Oil & Gas Exploration, Fertilizer, and Cement sectors were the major contributors.

Copyright Business Recorder, 2023