KARACHI: Pakistan Stock Exchange on Tuesday witnessed a bullish trend as clarity on the political ground boosted investor confidence which led the bourse to remain in the green throughout the trading session.

The benchmark KSE-100 Index increased by 287.82 points or 0.69 percent and crossed 42,000 psychological level to close at 42,006.25 points. The index hit 42,081.58 points intraday high and 41,817.01 points intraday low.

Trading activity also improved as total daily volumes on ready counter increased to 196.243 million shares as compared to 109.172 million shares traded on Monday while total daily traded value on ready counter increased to Rs 5.768 billion against previous session’s Rs 3.370 billion.

BRIndex100 gained 27.39 points or 0.65 percent to close at 4,243.35 points with total daily turnover of 169.915 million shares.

BRIndex30 added 104.18 points or 0.72 percent to close at 14,659.25 points with total daily trading volumes of 99.969 million shares.

Foreign investors also remained net buyers of shares worth $937,619. Total market capitalization increased by Rs 36 billion to Rs 6.262 trillion. Out of total 324 active scrips, 178 closed in positive and 120 in negative while the value of 26 stocks remained unchanged.

P.T.C.L. was the volume leader with 15.602 million shares and gained Rs 0.63 to close at Rs 6.75 followed by WorldCall Telecom that closed at Rs 1.15, down Rs 0.01 with 14.050 million shares. Hum Network lost Rs 0.20 to close at Rs 5.69 with 12.681 million shares.

Bhanero Textile and Pak Services were the top gainers increasing by Rs 73.58 and Rs 50.00 respectively to close at Rs 1054.58 and Rs 790.00 while Unilever Foods and Premium Textile were the top losers declining by Rs 200.00 and Rs 38.98 respectively to close at Rs 20800.00 and Rs 480.78.

“A positive session was marked at the PSX,” an analyst at Arif Habib Limited said. The index opened in the green as clarity on the political ground boosted investors’ confidence and hence, the bourse remained in the green throughout the trading session. Volumes increased significantly in the main-board while 3rd tier equities remained in the limelight.

Sectors contributing to the performance include E&P (up 109.3 points), Commercial Banks (up 63.9 points), Fertilizer (up 44.3 points), Miscellaneous (up 26.4 points) and Paper & Board (up 12.0 points).

BR Automobile Assembler Index gained 51.71 points or 0.69 percent to close at 7,557.26 points with total turnover of 2.714 million shares.

BR Cement Index lost 6.35 points or 0.15 percent to close at 4,315.58 points with 18,829 million shares.

BR Commercial Banks Index added 54.85 points or 0.62 percent to close at 8,919.88 points with 19.980 million shares.

BR Power Generation and Distribution Index fell by 9.47 points or 0.13 percent to close at 7,498.17 points with 8.437 million shares.

BR Oil and Gas Index increased by 64.28 points or 1.69 percent to close at 3,878.16 points with 19.566 million shares.

BR Tech. & Comm. Index inched up by 4.17 points or 0.11 percent to close at 3,883.95 points with 58.497 million shares.

An analyst at Topline Securities said that the KSE-100 Index largely traded in positive zone during the trading session to close at 42,006 level, up by 0.7 percent.

This positivity in the market can be attributed to Supreme Court hearing on Punjab election on Monday where the Supreme Court took a subdued tone and delayed the hearing till May 23, 2023. Apart from it call off of a sit in by a religious party who is part of the ruling coalition against recent Supreme Court orders also provided support to market.

Major positive contribution to the index came from UBL, OGDC, POL, PPL and PSEL, as they cumulatively contributed 200 points to the KSE-100 index.

Copyright Business Recorder, 2023