KARACHI: Pakistan Stock Exchange on Monday opened on a bullish note, however investors opted to book profit on these levels that minimized intraday gains.

The benchmark KSE-100 Index increased by 158.08 points or 0.20 percent and closed at 79,491.14 points. The index hit 79,993.18 points intraday high, however closed on lower level due to profit-taking in some stocks.

Trading activity however remained low as total daily volumes on ready counter decreased to 536.187 million shares as compared to 916.053 million shares traded on last Friday while total daily traded value on the ready counter declined to Rs 8.911 billion against previous session’s Rs 21.236 billion.

BRIndex100 lost 25.23 points or 0.3 percent to close at 8,375.75 points with total daily turnover of 375.384 million shares.

BRIndex30 decreased by 83.1 points or 0.31 percent to close at 27,106.44 points with total daily trading volumes of 231.677 million shares.

Foreign investors also remained net buyers of shares worth $487,892. The market capitalization declined by Rs 9 billion to stand at Rs 10.533 trillion. Out of total 443 active scrips, 253 closed in negative and 139 in positive while the value of 51 stocks remained unchanged.

Pace (Pak) Limited was the volume leader with 56.890 million shares however lost Rs 0.40 to close at Rs 6.96 followed by Cnergyico PK that gained Rs 0.10 to close at Rs 4.16 with 48.934 million shares. WorldCall Telecom closed at Rs 1.39, up Rs 0.01 with 40.218 million shares.

Hoechst Pakistan and Reliance Cotton Spinning Mills were the top gainers increasing by Rs 128.60 and Rs 53.86 respectively to close at Rs 2,079.60 and Rs 592.43 while Sapphire Textile Mills and Khyber Textile Mills were the top losers declining by Rs 58.71 and Rs 47.76 respectively to close at Rs 1,090.89 and Rs 484.85.

“Continuing its last week’s trend, Pakistan equities commenced the day on a positive note”, an analyst at Topline Securities said. Initially, the KSE-100 index witnessed bullish sentiment but in the later half market saw some profit taking and made an intraday low at 79,368 levels before called the day at 79,491 levels (up 158 points or 0.20 percent).

During the day, MEBL, DGKC, UBL, ENGRO and OGDC contributed negatively by losing 126 points, cumulatively. On the other side, MARI, HUBC and EFERT saw some buying interest as they added 373 points.

BR Automobile Assembler Index declined by 209.92 points or 1.22 percent to close at 16,992.38 points with total turnover of 3.430 million shares.

BR Cement Index decreased by 111.6 points or 1.43 percent to close at 7,691.27 points with 19.155 million shares.

BR Commercial Banks Index lost 73.96 points or 0.34 percent to close at 21,759.91 points with 9.002 million shares.

BR Power Generation and Distribution Index added 160.45 points or 0.87 percent to close at 18,628.51 points with 41.529 million shares.

BR Oil and Gas Index increased by 148.92 points or 2.05 percent to close at 7,425.01 points with 24.480 million shares.

BR Tech. & Comm. Index closed at 4,003.41 points, up 2.11 points or 0.05 percent with 89.951 million shares.

Ahsan Mehanti at Arif Habib Corporation said stocks closed higher amid upbeat economic outlook amid rising exports and surging remittances.

He said likely approval of IMF executive board for $7.0 billion new IMF EFF on September 25, 2024, strong Pak Rupee and falling leverage cost played a catalytic role in bullish close.

Copyright Business Recorder, 2024