KARACHI: A bullish trend continued on Pakistan Stock Exchange on the third consecutive day on Wednesday on the back of healthy buying, mainly in banking and refineries sectors.
The benchmark KSE-100 Index increased by 323.03 points or 0.69 percent and crossed 47,000 psychological level to close at 47,079.83 points. The index hit 47,199.50 points intra-day high level, however closed at slightly lower level due to profit taking in some stocks.
Trading activity also improved as total daily volumes on ready counter increased to 330.249 million shares as compared to 213.188 million shares traded on Tuesday while total daily traded value on ready counter increased to Rs 7.304 billion against previous session’s Rs 6.094 billion.
BRIndex100 gained 43.98 points or 0.94 percent to close at 4,734.15 points with total daily turnover of 305.218 million shares.
BRIndex30 added 164.22 points or 0.98 percent to close at 16,848.44 points with total daily trading volumes of 239.411 million shares.
Foreign investors however remained on the selling sides and withdrew $2.339 million from the local equity market. Total market capitalization increased by Rs 32 billion to Rs 6.977 trillion. Out of total 342 active scrips, 172 closed in positive and 134 in negative while the value of 36 stocks remained unchanged.
WorldCall Telecom was the volume leader with 150.526 million shares and gained Rs 0.14 to close at Rs 1.39 followed by Pak Refinery that inched up by Rs 0.30 to close at Rs 15.89 with 12.978 million shares. Bankislami Pak lost Rs 0.57 to close at Rs 17.59 with 11.208 million shares.
Colgate Palmolive and Mehmood Textile were the top gainers increasing by Rs 45.00 and Rs 23.63 respectively to close at Rs 1413.21 and Rs 541.63 while Bata Pak and Premier Sugar were the top losers declining by Rs 24.00 and Rs 21.37 respectively to close at Rs 1675.00 and Rs 500.00.
An analyst at Topline Securities said that Pakistan’s equities had a positive day, with the KSE-100 index closing at 47,079, reflecting a gain of 323 points, or up 0.69 percent.
Investors chose to reinforce their positions in the banking sector stocks in anticipation of upcoming results, set to commence next week. So, they bought blue-chip stocks which are available at attractive levels offering decent dividend yield.
As a result of this market activity, HBL, MCB, UBL, EFERT, and COLG collectively contributed plus 287 points to the index. On the other hand, SYS, PPL, and ENGRO experienced some profit-taking, resulting in a loss of negative 44 points.
BR Automobile Assembler Index gained 13.4 points or 0.15 percent to close at 8,814.03 points with total turnover of 3.671 million shares.
BR Cement Index inched up by 12.37 points or 0.26 percent to close at 4,848.22 points with 12.767 million shares.
BR Commercial Banks Index increased by 270.38 points or 2.5 percent to close at 11,070.22 points with 40.342 million shares.
BR Power Generation and Distribution Index added 62.78 points or 0.66 percent to close at 9,567.82 points with 12.385 million shares.
BR Oil and Gas Index lost 26.15 points or 0.59 percent to close at 4,423.93 points with 14.257 million shares.
BR Tech. & Comm. Index closed at 3,601.35 points, down 2.86 points or 0.08 percent with 163.418 million shares.
Muhammad Shuja Qureshi at JS Global Capital said that the KSE-100 Index crossed the psychological barrier of 47,000 level to close at 47,080, gaining 323 points.
Banks and refineries led the rally while profit-taking continued in the E&P sector. Volumes rose to 330 million shares, where bulk of the volumes (150.5 million shares) generated in WTL. Other volume leaders were PRL (up 1.9 percent), BIPL (down 3.1 percent), CNERGY (down 0.9 percent) and HBL (up 5.7 percent).
Copyright Business Recorder, 2023