KARACHI: A positive trend continued on Pakistan Stock Exchange on Wednesday on the back of healthy buying by local and foreign investors.

The benchmark KSE-100 Index surged by 359.15 points or 0.80 percent and closed at 45,514.95 points. The index hit 45,582.31 points intraday high and 45,200.35 points intraday low.

The daily trading volumes on ready counter however decreased to 450.259 million shares as compared to 555.100 million shares traded on Tuesday. The daily traded value on ready counter declined to Rs 13.139 billion against previous session’s Rs 15.487 billion.

BRIndex100 gained 41.37 points or 0.91 percent to close at 4,594.51 points with total daily turnover of 406.690 million shares.

BRIndex30 increased by 165.87 points or 1.05 percent to close at 16,029.45 points with total daily trading volumes of 272.595 million shares.

Foreign investors also remained net buyers of shares worth $1.984 million. Total market capitalization increased by Rs 54 billion to Rs 6.899 trillion. Out of total 359 active scrips, 173 closed in positive and 163 in negative while the value of 23 stocks remained unchanged.

WorldCall Telecom was the volume leader with 49.959 million shares and inched up by Rs 0.03 to close at Rs 1.29 followed by Unity Foods that increased by Rs 0.81 to close at Rs 22.50 with 20.347 million shares. Pak Int. Bulk Terminal gained Rs 0.20 to close at Rs 4.61 with 18.202 million shares.

Rafhan Maize and Colgate Palmolive were the top gainers increasing by Rs 315.05 and Rs 73.78 respectively to close at Rs 8913.00 and Rs 1275.83 while Unilever Foods and Reliance Cotton were the top losers declining by Rs 548.90 and Rs 37.00 respectively to close at Rs 22901.00 and Rs 458.00.

Muhammad Shuja Qureshi at JS Global Capital said that bulls pulled KSE-100 Index to an intraday high of 45,582 points eventually leading the market to close at 45,515, up 359 points.

Traded volume stood at 450 million shares where WTL (up 2.4 percent), UNITY (up 3.7 percent), PIBTL (up 4.5 percent), PRL (up 1.2 percent) and ASL (up 6.8 percent) were the volume leaders.

BR Automobile Assembler Index lost 2.58 points or 0.03 percent to close at 8,494.54 points with total turnover of 7.714 million shares.

BR Cement Index gained 23.45 points or 0.47 percent to close at 5,061.87 points with 37.093 million shares.

BR Commercial Banks Index increased by 179.19 points or 1.88 percent to close at 9,708.50 points with 48.957 million shares.

BR Power Generation and Distribution Index surged by 223.01 points or 2.72 percent to close at 8,412.12 points with 27.244 million shares.

BR Oil and Gas Index added 31.26 points or 0.76 percent to close at 4,154.00 points with 37.963 million shares.

BR Tech. & Comm. Index closed at 4,104.62 points, down 20.95 points or 0.51 percent with 80.002 million shares.

Ahsan Mehanti at Arif Habib Corporation said stocks closed bullish led by oil scrips amid speculations on strong payouts and surging global crude oil prices.

The Prime Minister announcement of ending tenure on Aug 14 and likely IMF board approval for $3.0 billion SBA supported the index to close near session highs. He said rising Rupee, Government projections on likely $46 billion investments from Saudi Arabia and UAE and SBP receipt of $2.0 billion deposit of Saudi Arabia boosting FX reserves played a catalyst role in bullish close.

Copyright Business Recorder, 2023