KARACHI: After bullish opening, Pakistan Stock Exchange Friday witnessed mid-session pressure that dragged it into negative zone, however fresh buying on reviving investor interest supported the market to close on positive note.

The benchmark KSE-100 Index hit 42,323.84 points intraday high and 41,963.55 points intraday low before closing at 42,241.98 points, up 148.18 points or 0.35 percent.

Trading activity however remained low as daily volumes on ready counter decreased to 178.164 million shares as compared to 255.265 million shares traded Thursday. The daily traded value on ready counter declined to Rs 5.768 billion against previous session’s Rs 9.268 billion.

BRIndex100 gained 18.05 points or 0.42 percent to close at 4,293.88 points with total daily turnover of 148.740 million shares.

BRIndex30 increased by 162.02 points or 1.09 percent to close at 15,061.60 points with total daily trading volumes of 100.448 million shares.

Foreign investors remained net sellers of shares worth $245,935. The market capitalization increased by Rs 2 billion to Rs 6.356 trillion. Out of total 352 active scrips, 170 closed in negative and 151 in positive while the value of 31 stocks remained unchanged.

WorldCall Telecom was the volume leader with 17.014 million shares and closed at Rs 1.21, down Rs 0.01 followed by SNGP that increased by Rs 2.51 to close at Rs 43.42 with 13.671 million shares. TPL Properties lost Rs 0.21 to close at Rs 14.06 with 9.688 million shares.

Nestle Pakistan and Bhanero Textile were the top gainers increasing by Rs 208.62 and Rs 79.74 respectively to close at Rs 5890.00 and Rs 1143.50 while Rafhan Maize and Pak Tobacco were the top losers declining by Rs 192.50 and Rs 24.30 respectively to close at Rs 8300.00 and Rs 660.70.

An analyst at Arif Habib Limited said the business week finished on a high note at the PSX. The market opened in the green, but investor engagement remained low due to weekend, making the index fluctuate in both directions. However, as the second session resumed, bulls became active in the market by pushing the bourse to reach an intraday high of plus 229.49 points, increasing volumes significantly, as investor added value to the portfolio by cherry picking strong fundamental stocks. Cements and banks remained in the limelight.

Sectors contributing to the performance include Commercial Banks (up 56.6 points), Power Generation & Distribution (up 56.0 points), Fertilizer (up 28.0 points), E&P (up 24.7 points) and OMC (up 18.9 points).

BR Automobile Assembler Index gained 28.83 points or 0.38 percent to close at 7,572.82 points with total turnover of 1.588 million shares.

BR Cement Index inched up by 2.93 points or 0.07 percent to close at 4,283.32 points with 19.976 million shares.

BR Commercial Banks Index increased by 50.31 points or 0.56 percent to close at 9,000.38 points with 37.425 million shares.

BR Power Generation and Distribution Index surged by 142.6 points or 1.93 percent to close at 7,512.84 points with 9.511 million shares.

BR Oil and Gas Index added 27.93 points or 0.71 percent to close at 3,961.25 points with 30.021 million shares.

BR Tech. & Comm. Index lost 36.89 points or 0.92 percent to close at 3,988.51 points with 30.555 million shares.

Ahsan Mehanti at Arif Habib Corporation said that stock closed higher on rupee stability and speculations over outcome of IMF review on federal budget plans.

He said strong financial results and payouts, corporate share buyback commitments played a catalyst role in bullish close.

Copyright Business Recorder, 2023