KARACHI: A bullish trend continued on Pakistan Stock Exchange on Friday on the back of fresh buying, mainly in cement, banking and oil sector stocks.

The benchmark KSE-100 Index surged by 695.36 points or 0.89 percent and crossed 78,000 psychological level to close at 78,569.59 points. The index hit 78,823.14 points intraday high, however closed at slightly lower level due to profit-taking in some stocks.

Trading activity however remained low as daily volumes on ready counter decreased to 420.405 million shares as compared to 493.090 million shares traded on Thursday. The daily traded value on the ready counter declined to Rs 20.720 billion against previous session’s Rs 25.846 billion.

BRIndex100 added 45.74 points or 0.55 percent to close at 8,300.91 points with total daily turnover of 342.733 million shares.

BRIndex30 gained 19.82 points or 0.08 percent to close at 25,998.45 points with daily trading volumes of 210.782 million shares.

The market capitalization increased by Rs 89 billion to Rs 10.491 trillion. Out of total 446 active scrips, 226 closed in positive and 156 in negative while the value of 64 stocks remained unchanged.

Kohinoor Spining was the volume leader with 64.781 million shares and gained Rs 0.82 to close at Rs 6.64 followed by Yousuf Weaving that inched up by Rs 0.64 to close at Rs 4.34 with 24.857 million shares. The Organic Meat Company increased by Rs 1.93 to close at Rs 46.29 with 18.118 million shares.

Mari Petroleum Company and Unilever Pakistan Foods were the top gainers increasing by Rs 285.88 and Rs 145.94 respectively to close at Rs 3,144.64 and Rs 17,945.00 while Leiner Pak Gelatine Limited and Nestle Pakistan were the top losers declining by Rs 45.22 and Rs 25.00 respectively to close at Rs 407.02 and Rs 6,900.00.

An analyst at Topline Securities said that the market largely traded in positive zone during the trading session, as the index gained 695 points to close at 78,570 level (up by 0.89 percent).

Major positive contribution to the index came from MARI, UBL, MCB, SYS and MEBL, as they cumulatively contributed 566 points to the index.

BR Automobile Assembler Index added 153.34 points or 0.81 percent to close at 18,986.78 points with a turnover of 9.426 million shares.

BR Cement Index gained 51.92 points or 0.7 percent to close at 7,460.17 points with 17.159 million shares.

BR Commercial Banks Index increased by 379.7 points or 1.74 percent to close at 22,241.21 points with 24.208 million shares.

BR Power Generation and Distribution Index lost 76.95 points or 0.43 percent to close at 17,874.05 points with 25.961 million shares.

BR Oil and Gas Index soared by 126.37 points or 1.84 percent to close at 6,989.25 points with 30.054 million shares.

BR Tech. & Comm. Index surged by 87.35 points or 2.18 percent to close at 4,089.33 points with 66.021 million shares.

Ahsan Mehanti at Arif Habib Corporation said stocks closed bullish led by cement, banking and oil scrips amid strong corporate earnings outlook.

He said bullish global equities on easing recession fears, surging FX reserves, drop in interbank rates, and imminent IMF board approval for EFF this month played a catalyst role in bullish close.

Copyright Business Recorder, 2024