KARACHI: Pakistan Stock Exchange Tuesday witnessed a positive trend on the back of fresh buying in certain sectors.
The benchmark KSE-100 Index increased by 201.38 points or 0.50 percent and closed at 40,448.05 points. The index hit 40,483.26 points intra-day high and 40,220.03 points intra-day low.
Trading activity however remained thin as total daily volumes on ready counter decreased to 67.536 million shares as compared to 94.781 million shares traded on Monday while total daily traded value on the ready counter declined to Rs 2.275 billion against previous session’s Rs 3.056 billion.
BRIndex100 gained 22.1 points or 0.54 percent to close at 4,121.48 points with total daily turnover of 53.368 million shares.
BRIndex30 inched up by 23.23 points or 0.16 percent to close at 14,690.99 points with total daily trading volumes of 28.766 million shares.
Foreign investors also remained net buyers of shares worth $466,143. Total market capitalization increased by Rs 18 billion to Rs 6.136 trillion. Out of total 306 active scrips, 156 closed in positive and 130 in negative while the value of 20 stocks remained unchanged.
K-Electric was the volume leader with 3.534 million shares however lost Rs 0.02 to close at Rs 1.98 followed by WorldCall Telecom that closed at the previous session’s closing level of Rs 1.16 without any change with 3.323 million shares. Hascol Petroleum decreased by Rs 0.16 to close at Rs 5.55 with 2.759 million shares.
Nestle Pakistan and Sapphire Fiber were the top gainers increasing by Rs 100.00 and Rs 71.75 respectively to close at Rs 5350.00 and Rs 1040.63 while Unilever Foods and Khyber Textile were the top losers declining by Rs 246.00 and Rs 51.75 respectively to close at Rs 18054.00 and Rs 638.25.
An analyst at Arif Habib Limited said that a positive session was recorded at the PSX. The market opened in the green and continued to trade in the same zone, with the index reaching an intraday high of 237.62 points, as investors remained hopeful for the release of the extended tranche of the IMF’s Extended Fund Facility. Investor activity increased marginally while volumes across the board increased slightly, with 3rd tier companies topping the volume board. Sectors contributing to the performance include Fertilizer (up 87.0 points), Commercial Banks (up 69.7 points), Power Generation & Distribution (up 22.4 points), Textile Composite (up 11.4 points), and Technology & Communication (up 10.6 points).
BR Automobile Assembler Index gained 9.24 points or 0.12 percent to close at 7,668.97 points with total turnover of 1.334 million shares.
BR Cement Index lost 22.15 points or 0.57 percent to close at 3,852.25 points with 3.900 million shares.
BR Commercial Banks Index increased by 76.14 points or 0.92 percent to close at 8,308.51 points with 10.667 million shares.
BR Power Generation and Distribution Index added 53.76 points or 0.75 percent to close at 7,217.48 points with 6.919 million shares.
BR Oil and Gas Index inched up by 2.98 points or 0.08 percent to close at 3,935.73 points with 7.471 million shares.
BR Tech. & Comm. Index closed at 4,184.06 points, up 9.73 points or 0.23 percent with 8.128 million shares.
Ahsan Mehanti at Arif Habib Corporation said that stocks closed bullish in the earnings season rally at PSX on rupee recovery amid affirmations on bilateral support from friendly countries for IMF bailout. The mid-session pressure remained on surging internet rates and LSM growth contracting by 11.6 percent YoY in February 2023.
He said strong financial results in cement sector, and expectations for SLA signoff with IMF this month played a catalyst role in bullish close.
Copyright Business Recorder, 2023