KARACHI: Pakistan Stock Exchange managed to close on positive note on the fifth consecutive session on the back of fresh buying mainly in auto and technology sector stocks.

The benchmark KSE-100 index hit 47,619.26 points intra-day high and 47,402.58 points intra-day low level before closing at 47,493.57 points up 41.19 points or 0.09 percent.

Trading activities however remained low as total daily volumes on ready counter decreased to 246.382 million shares as compared to 462.865 million shares traded on Thursday while total daily traded value on the ready counter declined to Rs 7.184 billion against previous session’s Rs 8.998 billion.

BRIndex100 inched up by 1.39 points or 0.03 percent to close at 4,783.36 points with total daily turnover of 221.589 million shares.

BRIndex30 however lost 20.63 points or 0.12 percent to close at 16,948.69 points with total daily trading volumes of 160.386 million shares.

The foreign investors however remained on the selling side and withdrew $3.874 million from the local equity market. Total market capitalization declined by Rs 5 billion to Rs 7.023 trillion. Out of total 351 active scrips, 190 closed in positive and 139 in negative while the value of 22 stocks remained unchanged.

WorldCall Telecom was the volume leader with 41.323 million shares however lost Rs 0.05 to close at Rs 1.34 followed by K-Electric that gained Rs 0.08 to close at Rs 2.29 with 28.155 million shares. Telecard Limited inched up by Rs 0.16 to close at Rs 7.30 with 11.768 million shares.

Unilever Foods and Bhanero Textile were the top gainers increasing by Rs 100.00 and Rs 44.50 respectively to close at Rs 20700.00 and Rs 974.50 while Sapphire Fiber and Khyber Textile were the top losers declining by Rs 83.95 and Rs 60.89 respectively to close at Rs 1036.05 and Rs 751.02.

“Continuing its momentum market largely traded in positive zone during the trading session to close at 47,494 level, up by 0.09 percent. Investor interest was observed in Automobile Sector, which can be attributed to recent appreciation of PKR against USD.

Major positive contribution to the index came from HUBC, MTL, DAWH, SYS and MEBL, as they cumulatively contributed plus 102 points to the index. On the flip side OGDC, HBL, PSEL, PPL and POL lost value to weigh down on the index by minus 77 points.

BR Automobile Assembler Index surged by 263.18 points or 2.95 percent to close at 9,177.94 points with total turnover of 11.866 million shares.

BR Cement Index lost 27.62 points or 0.55 percent to close at 5,022.52 points with 22.454 million shares.

BR Commercial Banks Index decreased by 46.61 points or 0.42 percent to close at 11,099.21 points with 11.267 million shares.

BR Power Generation and Distribution Index increased by 154.81 points or 1.62 percent to close at 9,713.88 points with 36.103 million shares.

BR Oil and Gas Index fell by 35.23 points or 0.8 percent to close at 4,358.12 points with 22.516 million shares.

BR Tech. & Comm. Index added 36.8 points or 1.02 percent to close at 3,652.63 points with 69.225 million shares.

Muhammad Shuja Qureshi at JS Global Capital said that auto and technology stocks led the gains with the KSE-100 index closing at 47,494, up by 41 points.

Buying emerged in ATRL, NRL, and SNGP. Volumes declined to 246 million shares. WTL (down 3.6 percent), KEL (up 3.6 percent), TELE (up 2.2 percent), MLCF (down 1.2 percent), and CNERGY (up 2.1 percent) were the volume leaders.

Copyright Business Recorder, 2023