KARACHI: A bullish trend continued on Pakistan Stock Exchange on the fourth consecutive day on the back of healthy buying, mainly in cement sector.

The benchmark KSE-100 Index surged by 372.55 points or 0.79 percent and closed at 47,452.38 points. The index hit 47,484.56 points intraday high, however closed at slightly lower level due to profit-taking in some stocks.

Trading activity also improved as daily volumes on ready counter increased to 462.865 million shares as compared to 330.249 million shares traded on Wednesday. The daily traded value on ready counter increased to Rs 8.998 billion against previous session’s Rs 7.304 billion.

BRIndex100 added 47.82 points or 1.01 percent to close at 4,781.97 points with daily turnover of 436.745 million shares.

BRIndex30 increased by 120.88 points or 0.72 percent to close at 16,969.32 points with total daily trading volumes of 351.377 million shares.

Foreign investors however remained on the selling side and withdrew $4.142 million from the local equity market. Total market capitalization increased by Rs 51 billion to Rs 7.028 trillion. Out of total 355 active scrips, 238 closed in positive and only 91 in negative while the value of 26 stocks remained unchanged.

WorldCall Telecom was the volume leader with 190.161 million shares however closed at the previous session’s closing level of Rs 1.39 without any change followed by K-Electric that gained Rs 0.24 to close at Rs 2.21 with 52.233 million shares. Maple Leaf Cement increased by Rs 2.09 to close at Rs 32.35 with 21.305 million shares.

Unilever Foods and Sanofi-Aventis were the top gainers increasing by Rs 112.50 and Rs 33.00 respectively to close at Rs 20600.00 and Rs 690.00 while Pak Tobacco and Khyber Tobacco were the top losers declining by Rs 19.90 and Rs 8.53 respectively to close at Rs 700.10 and Rs 400.00.

An analyst at Topline Securities said Pakistan stock market ended the trading session at 47,452 points, indicating a 372 point increase, equivalent to 0.79 percent. This upward trend can probably be attributed to a resurgence of investor enthusiasm for the cement sector, driven by the decline in global oil prices.

Banks, Fertilizer, and Cements, including LUCK, EFERT, MLCF, CHCC, and HBL, made a positive contribution by adding 139 points. However, HUBC, POL, and PPL collectively lost 61 points.

BR Automobile Assembler Index increased by 100.73 points or 1.14 percent to close at 8,914.76 points with total turnover of 4.307 million shares.

BR Cement Index surged by 201.92 points or 4.16 percent to close at 5,050.14 points with 54.069 million shares.

BR Commercial Banks Index added 75.6 points or 0.68 percent to close at 11,145.82 points with 17.161 million shares.

BR Power Generation and Distribution Index lost 8.75 points or 0.09 percent to close at 9,559.07 points with 62.348 million shares.

BR Oil and Gas Index fell by 30.58 points or 0.69 percent to close at 4,393.35 points with 16.806 million shares.

BR Tech. & Comm. Index closed at 3,615.83 points, up 14.48 points or 0.4 percent with 213.035 million shares.

Ahsan Mehanti at Arif Habib Corporation said that stock closed bullish led by select scrips across the board amid speculations ahead of major earnings announcements due next week. Oil stocks battered on slump in global crude oil prices.

He said ongoing Pak rupee recovery and falling Government Treasury Bond yields played a catalyst role in bullish activity.

Copyright Business Recorder, 2023