KARACHI: Pakistan Stock Exchange Friday witnessed a mixed trend and after moving both ways, closed on slightly positive note.

The benchmark KSE-100 Index hit 41,403.44 points intraday high and 41,237.41 points intraday low before closing at 41,352.99 points, up 86.22 points or 0.21 percent.

Daily trading volumes on ready counter stood at 99.545 million shares as compared to 99.950 million shares traded on Thursday. Daily traded value on ready counter increased to Rs 3.336 billion against previous session’s Rs 2.867 billion.

BRIndex100 gained 9.05 points or 0.22 percent to close at 4,132.19 points with total daily turnover of 87.989 million shares.

BRIndex30 increased by 104.19 points or 0.75 percent to close at 14,064.61 points with total daily trading volumes of 61.170 million shares.

Foreign investors remained net buyers of shares worth $685,959. Total market capitalization increased by Rs 18 billion to Rs 6.276 trillion. Out of total 296 active scrips, 146 closed in positive and 120 in negative while the value of 30 stocks remained unchanged.

Pak Int. Bulk Terminal was the volume leader with 10.345 million shares and gained Rs 0.30 to close at Rs 4.22 followed by WorldCall Telecom that closed at Rs 1.17, down Rs 0.01 with 9.402 million shares. DGKC increased by Rs increased by Rs 2.78 to close at Rs 53.81 with 8.134 million shares.

Sapphire Fiber and Bata Pak were the top gainers increasing by Rs 59.98 and Rs 48.50 respectively to close at Rs 1259.98 and Rs 1694.00 while Unilever Foods and Khyber Textile were the top losers declining by Rs 449.00 and Rs 47.25 respectively to close at Rs 22050.00 and Rs 582.75.

An analyst at Arif Habib Limited said that the week concluded with another mixed session at the PSX. As a result of the country’s precarious political and economic condition, the benchmark KSE-100 Index had a rangebound session. Investors chose to be cautious during the trading session, as sideways activity was observed. Volumes were flat, while the cement sector remained in the spotlight following a substantial surge in cement dispatch numbers.

Sectors contributing to the performance include Commercial Banks (up 59.5 points), Cements (up 32.9 points), Inv. Bank/Securities (up 16.9 points), Chemicals (up 14.9 points) and Power (up 14.4 points).

BR Automobile Assembler Index gained 9.61 points or 0.13 percent to close at 7,431.37 points with total turnover of 637,178 shares.

BR Cement Index increased by 52.14 points or 1.15 percent to close at 4,594.14 points with 20.479 million shares.

BR Commercial Banks Index added 60.12 points or 0.71 percent to close at 8,557.53 points with 13.948 million shares.

BR Power Generation and Distribution Index inched up by 36.9 points or 0.51 percent to close at 7,286.04 points with 7.158 million shares.

BR Oil and Gas Index lost 11.94 points or 0.32 percent to close at 3,731.96 points with 4.574 million shares.

BR Tech. & Comm. Index closed at 3,652.28 points, up 0.79 points or 0.02 percent with 16.335 million shares.

An analyst at Topline Securities said that dull session was observed at the exchange as index traded between its intraday high of plus 137 points and intraday of low minus 29 points to close at 41,353 level, up by 0.21 percent.

Major contribution to the Index came from UBL, DAWH, DGKC, HUBC and LOTCHEM, as they cumulatively contributed plus 132 points to the index. On the flip side ENGRO, HBL, POL, EFERT and PSEL lost value to weigh down on the index by minus 100 points.

Copyright Business Recorder, 2023