KARACHI: Pakistan Stock Exchange on Friday witnessed a positive trend and closed in green zone on the back of fresh buying at attractive, low levels. However, trading activity remained low on the last trading day of the week.

The benchmark KSE-100 Index increased by 79.83 points or 0.13 percent and closed at 63,282.23 points. The index hit 63,911.86 points intraday high, however closed on lower level due to profit taking in some stocks.

Trading activity remained thin as daily volumes on ready counter decreased to 287.310 million shares as compared to 445.797 million shares traded on Thursday while total daily traded value on the ready counter declined to Rs 9.320 billion against previous session’s Rs 14.236 billion.

BRIndex100 gained 6.66 points or 0.1 percent to close at 6,488.29 points with total daily traded value of Rs 255.795 million shares.

BRIndex30 closed at 22,963.89 points, down 25.73 points or 0.11 percent with total daily trading volumes of 202.347 million shares.

Foreign investors remained net buyers of shares worth $822,255. Total market capitalization increased by Rs 10 billion to Rs 9.265 trillion. Out of total 339 active scrips, 160 closed in positive and 158 in negative while the value of 21 stocks remained unchanged.

K-Electric was the volume leader with 49.814 million shares however lost Rs 0.03 to close at Rs 5.44 followed by P.I.A.C. (A) that gained Rs 0.48 to close at Rs 12.04 with 43.353 million shares. P.T.C.L. closed at Rs 13.83, down Rs 0.43 with 14.161 million shares.

Mari Petroleum Company and Honda Atlas Cars Pakistan were the top gainers increasing by Rs 26.19 and Rs 15.35 respectively to close at Rs 2,375.37 and Rs 274.59 while Sapphire Fibres and Bata Pakistan were the top losers declining by Rs 63.14 and Rs 35.06 respectively to close at Rs 1,600.00 and Rs 1,705.05.

“Amid falling volumes, the KSE-100 index managed to close with a gain of 80 points at 63,282,” Muhammad Shuja Qureshi at JS Global Capital said.

Auto Sector performed well with GAL and GHNI closing limit up. On the other hand, Refinery Sector remained under pressure where NRL (down 2.8 percent) and PRL (down 2.2 percent) were major losers.

BR Automobile Assembler Index increased by 195.3 points or 1.4 percent to close at 14,180.31 points with total turnover of 12.617 million shares.

BR Cement Index lost 4.79 points or 0.07 percent to close at 6,519.18 points with 7.974 million shares.

BR Commercial Banks Index gained 22.85 points or 0.15 percent to close at 15,394.61 points with 12.913 million shares.

BR Power Generation and Distribution Index added 31.11 points or 0.22 percent to close at 14,207.71 points with 52.486 million shares.

BR Oil and Gas Index inched up by 2.56 points or 0.04 percent to close at 6,205.02 points with 28.281 million shares.

BR Tech. & Comm. Index decreased by 19.58 points or 0.51 percent to close at 3,798.64 points with 38.774 million shares.

Ahsan Mehanti at Arif Habib Corporation said stocks showed recovery amid thin trade as investor weigh strong rupee and likely positive outcome of $3.0 billion SIFC investment accord with Dubai.

He said ECP affirmation on polls on February 08, 2024 surging global crude prices and strong economic indicators on $397 million current account surplus, $2.381 billion remittances, $65 million FIPI, $2.8 billion exports in December 2023 played catalyst role in positive close at PSX.

Copyright Business Recorder, 2024