KARACHI: Pakistan Stock Exchange on Friday witnessed a mixed trend, however closed on a negative note due to selling, mainly by local investors during the second half of the trading session.

The benchmark KSE-100 Index hit 48,615.14 points intraday high and 48,196.19 points intraday low before closing at 48,218.50 points, down 107.34 points or 0.22 percent.

The daily trading volumes on ready counter however increased to 254.814 million shares as compared to 226.935 million shares traded on Thursday. The daily traded value on ready counter increased to Rs 10.414 billion against previous session’s Rs 10.021 billion.

BRIndex100 lost 14.92 points or 0.3 percent to close at 4,883.42 points with total daily turnover of 229.065 million shares.

BRIndex30 gained 21.9 points or 0.13 percent to close at 17,286.22 points with total daily trading volumes of 166.371 million shares.

Foreign investors however remained net buyers of shares worth $166,547. Total market capitalization declined by Rs 14 billion to Rs 7.188 trillion. Out of total 333 active scrips, 186 closed in negative and 126 in positive while the value of 21 stocks remained unchanged.

WorldCall Telecom was the volume leader with 40.458 million shares and gained Rs 0.05 to close at Rs 1.25 followed by PPL that increased by Rs 1.92 to close at Rs 76.15 with 27.990 million shares. OGDC lost Rs 0.23 to close at Rs 99.29 with 19.811 million shares.

Rafhan Maize and Nestle Pakistan were the top gainers increasing by Rs 140.70 and Rs 100.00, respectively to close at Rs 8587.50 and Rs 7400.00 while Sapphire Fiber and Bhanero Textile were the top losers declining by Rs 86.89 and Rs 35.00 respectively to close at Rs 1071.61 and Rs 950.00.

An analyst at Topline Securities said that the KSE-100 Index opened on a positive note and traded in the positive zone during the first of trading session. The positive opening can be attributed to statement by caretaker Prime Minister on Thursday that the government will ensure full use of the SIFC forum to exploit the vast potential for foreign investment in the fields of agriculture, mining and minerals, IT, energy and defense production.

However some profit-taking was observed at the closing hours of the trade on notice from OGDC in which it stated company hasn`t received any formal communication from authorities on issue of circular debt settlement.

Major positive contribution to the index came from PPL, HUBC, NESTLE, PABC and BAFL, as they cumulatively contributed plus 78 points to the index. On the flip side LUCK, UBL, POL, MCB and MEBL lost value to weigh down on the index by minus 92 points.

BR Automobile Assembler Index lost 16.07 points or 0.18 percent to close at 9,037.17 points with total turnover of 9.264 million shares.

BR Cement Index declined by 61.77 points or 1.21 percent to close at 5,043.51 points with 7.723 million shares.

BR Commercial Banks Index decreased by 58.52 points or 0.51 percent to close at 11,330.54 points with 19.803 million shares.

BR Power Generation and Distribution Index gained 32.52 points or 0.35 percent to close at 9,347.94 points with 34.112 million shares.

BR Oil and Gas Index inched up by 11.06 points or 0.25 percent to close at 4,444.71 points with 57.780 million shares.

BR Tech. & Comm. Index closed at 4,051.27 points, down 10.42 points or 0.26 percent with 52.194 million shares.

Muhammad Waqar Iqbal at JS Global Capital said the KSE-100 Index failed to sustain its intraday high of 48,615 and slid to close at the 48,218 level, down 107 points.

WTL (up 4.2 percent), PPL (up 2.6 percent), OGDC (down 0.2 percent), KEL (down 4.0 percent) and PRL (down 3.0 percent) were the volume leaders.

Copyright Business Recorder, 2023