KARACHI: Pakistan Stock Exchange on Thursday witnessed another bullish session and hit new highest level on the back of aggressive buying by local and foreign investors, coupled with institutional support.
The benchmark KSE-100 Index surged by 701.08 points or 1.20 percent and closed at highest-ever level of 58,899.84 points. The index hit 58,920.41 points intraday high which was also highest-ever intraday level in its history.
Trading activity also improved as daily volumes on ready counter increased to 669.250 million shares as compared to 596.217 million shares traded on Wednesday while total daily traded value on ready counter increased to Rs 25.232 billion against previous session’s Rs 22.054 billion.
BRIndex100 increased by 65.64 points or 1.1 percent and crossed 6,000 level to close at 6,009.78 points with total daily turnover of 571.392 million shares.
BRIndex30 gained 18.74 points or 0.09 percent to close at 20,943.82 points with total daily trading volumes of 346.282 million shares.
Foreign investors also remained net buyers of shares worth $380,444. The market capitalization increased by Rs 86 billion to Rs 8.530 trillion. Out of total 393 active scrips, 227 closed in positive and 140 in negative while the value of 26 stocks remained unchanged.
WorldCall Telecom was the volume leader with 40.217 million shares and closed at Rs 1.62, down Rs 0.02 followed by Telecard Limited that gained Rs 0.52 to close at Rs 9.18 with 32.418 million shares. Pak Refinery inched up by Rs 0.49 to close at Rs 25.53 with 32.348 million shares.
Hoechst Pak and Ismail Industries were the top gainers increasing by Rs 76.25 and Rs 65.00 respectively to close at Rs 1092.92 and Rs 931.72 while Nestle Pakistan and Pak Engineering were the top losers declining by Rs 50.00 and Rs 46.80 respectively to close at Rs 8500.00 and Rs 577.20.
After consecutive bullish sessions, the KSE-100 Index witnessed a volatile session but still managed to close in the green at the level of 58,900, up 701 points, Mohammed Waqar Iqbal at JS Global Capital said.
Traded volumes stood at 669 million shares where WTL (down 1.2 percent), TELE (up 6.0 percent), PRL (up 2.0 percent), AIRLINK (up 2.5 percent) and HUMNL (up 0.4 percent) cumulatively contributed 22 percent to the total volumes.
BR Automobile Assembler Index increased by 321.79 points or 2.56 percent to close at 12,915.28 points with total turnover of 15.067 million shares.
BR Cement Index gained 68.1 points or 1.1 percent to close at 6,278.31 points with 45.284 million shares.
BR Commercial Banks Index added 338.88 points or 2.51 percent to close at 13,844.82 points with 68.087 million shares.
BR Power Generation and Distribution Index declined by 92.93 points or 0.68 percent to close at 13,654.34 points with 29.004 million shares.
BR Oil and Gas Index decreased by 36.18 points or 0.67 percent to close at 5,337.64 points with 43.785 million shares.
BR Tech. & Comm. Index surged by 184.76 points or 4.63 percent to close at 4,176.98 points with 173.726 million shares.
An analyst at Topline Securities said that the Pakistan equities market is witnessing unstoppable bull run where the KSE-100 Index further gained 701 points; up 1.20 percent and closed the day at 58,900 levels.
The day’s business commenced on buoyant note and momentum remained strong throughout the day. The market participants opted to switch their positions by booking profits in energy sector stocks (namely OGDC, PPL, HUBC and PSO) on the backdrop of decline in international oil prices due to above expected US inventory level reported on Wednesday.
Subsequently, Technology and Banking sectors stocks like MEBL, SYS, TRG, HMB and BAFL witnessed some cherry picking by investors as they received rejuvenated buying interest.
Copyright Business Recorder, 2023