KARACHI: Pakistan Stock Exchange on Friday ended on a positive note due to investor interest and fresh buying in various sectors.

The benchmark KSE-100 Index increased by 138.55 points or 0.18 percent and closed at 78,488.22 points. The index hit 78,914.28 points intraday high, however closed at lower level due to profit-taking in some stocks.

Trading activity improved as daily volumes on ready counter increased to 680.810 million shares as compared to 599.820 million shares traded on Thursday. The daily traded value on the ready counter increased to Rs 21.186 billion against previous session’s Rs 20.409 billion.

BRIndex100 gained 4.5 points or 0.05 percent to close at 8,328.49 points with total daily turnover of 482.059 million shares.

BRIndex30 closed at 26,627.46, down 90.48 points or 0.34 percent with total daily trading volumes of 243.669 million shares.

Foreign investors also remained net buyers of shares worth $2.033 million. The market capitalization increased by Rs 38 billion to Rs 10.485 trillion. Out of total 454 active scrips, 214 closed in positive and 180 in negative while the value of 60 stocks remained unchanged.

Hascol Petroleum was the volume leader with 63.106 million shares and increased by Rs 0.65 to close at Rs 7.90 followed by Kohinoor Spining that inched up by Rs 0.15 to close at Rs 11.84 with 44.638 million shares. Symmetry Group gained Rs 0.77 to close at Rs 9.34 with 38.685 million shares.

Hallmark Company and Rafhan Maize Products Company were the top gainers increasing by Rs 73.27 and Rs 55.47 respectively to close at Rs 806.01 and Rs 7,439.17 while Unilever Pakistan Foods and Sapphire Fibres were the top losers declining by Rs 82.09 and Rs 69.43 respectively to close at Rs 17,498.93 and Rs 1,500.00.

An analyst at Topline Securities said the market largely traded in positive zone during the trading session, as index gained to make an intraday high of plus 564 points, however some profit-taking was observed in the closing hours of trade as the index declined to close at 78,488 level (up by 0.18 percent).

Major positive contribution to the index came from EFERT, MTL, FFC, NBP and UBL, as they cumulatively contributed plus 239 points to the index, whereas HUBC, HBL, BAHL, PPL and BAFL lost value to weigh down on the index by 141 points.

BR Automobile Assembler Index increased by 298.93 points or 1.73 percent to close at 17,597.82 points with a turnover of 27.088 million shares.

BR Cement Index lost 22.49 points or 0.31 percent to close at 7,343.20 points with 45.334 million shares.

BR Commercial Banks Index fell 30.87 points or 0.14 percent to close at 22,040.83 points with 50.326 million shares.

BR Power Generation and Distribution Index declined by 116.19 points or 0.62 percent to close at 18,499.47 points with 18.479 million shares.

BR Oil and Gas Index gained 11.29 points or 0.16 percent to close at 7,094.19 points with 72.945 million shares.

BR Tech. & Comm. Index inched down by 1.06 points or 0.03 percent to close at 4,047.78 points with 102.662 million shares.

Ahsan Mehanti at Arif Habib Corporation said stocks closed higher as investors weigh government deliberation over privatisation of SOEs, speculations on lower CPI inflation in August 2024 and Moody’s ratings upgrade.

He said bull-run in global equities, government affirmation of reduction in power tariff by next year, and expectations over resolution of external financing gaps played a catalytic role in bullish close.

Copyright Business Recorder, 2024