KARACHI: Pakistan Stock Exchange on Friday witnessed a bullish trend and closed on strong positive note with healthy gains.

The benchmark KSE-100 Index surged by 609.18 points or 0.98 percent and crossed 63,000 psychological level to close at 63,002.92 points.

Trading activity however remained low as daily volumes on ready counter decreased to 263.547 million shares as compared to 270.537 million shares traded on Thursday. The daily traded value on the ready counter declined to Rs 10.730 billion against previous session’s Rs 11.625 billion.

BRIndex100 added 62.5 points or 0.98 percent to close at 6,455.43 points with total daily turnover of 222.337 million shares.

BRIndex30 increased by 244.09 points or 1.08 percent to close at 22,756.92 points with total daily trading volumes of 185.728 million shares.

Foreign investors also remained net buyers of shares worth $655,677. The market capitalization increased by Rs 87 billion to Rs 9.206 trillion. Out of total 336 active scrips, 217 closed in positive and only 92 in negative while the value of 27 stocks remained unchanged.

K-Electric was the volume leader with 26.580 million shares and gained Rs 0.22 to close at Rs 4.68 followed by P.I.A.C. (A) that increased by Rs 0.87 to close at Rs 10.94 with 25.838 million shares. PPL declined by Rs 1.46 to close at Rs 114.34 with 18.483 million shares.

Ismail Industries and Pakistan Tobacco Company were the top gainers increasing by Rs 83.00 and Rs 37.11 respectively to close at Rs 1,240.00 and Rs 1,049.99 while KSB Pumps Company and Bela Automotives Limited were the top losers declining by Rs 9.40 and Rs 6.58 respectively to close at Rs 118.60 and Rs 81.13.

Mohammed Waqar Iqbal at JS Global Capital said the bourse witnessed rangebound activity. The KSE-100 Index moved between a high and low of 63,075 and 62,449 points, respectively.

Traded volume stood at 264 million shares with KEL (up 4.9 percent), PIAA (up 8.6 percent), PPL (down 1.3 percent), HASCOL (up 2.5 percent) and OGDC (up 2.3 percent) among the top volume leaders.

BR Automobile Assembler Index surged by 438.69 points or 3.2 percent to close at 14,168.82 points with total turnover of 2.003 million shares.

BR Cement Index increased by 102.53 points or 1.61 percent to close at 6,476.64 points with 5.525 million shares.

BR Commercial Banks Index gained 104.56 points or 0.67 percent to close at 15,670.74 points with 24.646 million shares.

BR Power Generation and Distribution Index added 133.21 points or 0.97 percent to close at 13,848.18 points with 33.521 million shares.

BR Oil and Gas Index lost 14.26 points or 0.23 percent to close at 6,235.61 points with 54.292 million shares.

BR Tech. & Comm. Index closed at 3,609.21 points, up 51.14 points or 1.44 percent with 37.268 million shares.

Ahsan Mehanti at Arif Habib Corporation said that stocks closed bullish in the earnings season rally at PSX as investor weigh upbeat economic data for exports surging by 26.9 percent YoY to $2.786 billion and trade deficit falling by 30 percent YoY to $1.879 billion in January 2024.

He said speculations ahead of IMF approval on SIFC directed proposals to resolve power sector circular debt issue, stable Pak Rupee and higher global crude oil prices played catalyst role in bullish close at PSX.

Copyright Business Recorder, 2024