KARACHI: Despite foreign selling, Pakistan Stock Exchange on Wednesday witnessed a bullish trend and closed on strong positive note with healthy gains on the back of fresh buying, mainly by local investors coupled with institutional support.

The benchmark KSE-100 Index surged by 970.20 points or 1.22 percent and crossed 80,000 psychological level to close at 80,461.34 points. During the session, the index hit 80,587.44 points intraday high however closed at slightly lower level due to profit taking in some stocks.

Total daily trading volumes on ready counter stood at 400.195 million shares as compared to 536.187 million shares traded on previous session while total daily traded value on the ready counter increased to Rs 15.904 billion against previous session’s Rs 8.911 billion.

BRIndex100 added 78.71 points or 0.94 percent to close at 8,454.46 points with total daily turnover of 298.800 million shares.

BRIndex30 increased by 138.66 points or 0.51 percent to close at 27,245.10 points with total daily trading volumes of 164.263 million shares.

Foreign investors however remained on the selling side and withdrew $4.312 million from the local equity market. Total market capitalization increased by Rs 77 billion to Rs 10.610 trillion. Out of total 439 active scrips, 199 closed in positive and 186 in negative while the value of 54 stocks remained unchanged.

WorldCall Telecom was the volume leader with 32.229 million shares however lost Rs 0.03 to close at Rs 1.36 followed by TRG Pak that increased by Rs 5.45 to close at Rs 59.90 with 22.086 million shares. Pace (Pak) Limited closed at Rs 6.94, down Rs 0.02 with 19.649 million shares.

Sapphire Textile Mills and Mari Petroleum Company were the top gainers increasing by Rs 57.88 and Rs 41.59 respectively to close at Rs 1,148.77 and Rs 457.49 while Unilever Pakistan Foods and Sapphire Fibreswere the top losers declining by Rs 182.77 and Rs 121.42 respectively to close at Rs 17,367.23 and Rs 1,300.10.

An analyst at Topline Securities said that the KSE -100 index opened on a positive note, where the bourse made intraday high of 1096 points to close at 80,461 level (up by 970 points or 1.22 percent).

Broad-based buying was observed in blue-chip stocks, where heavyweights such as MARI, EFERT, UBL, MEBL, and FFC posted significant gains, collectively contributing to a notable 682 point rise.

From the Cement Sector PIOC declared its FY24 result, where the company posted an EPS Rs22.79 along with a cash dividend of Rs10 per share.

BR Automobile Assembler Index inched up by 16.21 points or 0.1 percent to close at 17,008.59 points with total turnover of 5.863 million shares.

BR Cement Index gained 53.96 points or 0.7 percent to close at 7,745.23 points with 19.638 million shares.

BR Commercial Banks Index added 184.9 points or 0.85 percent to close at 21,944.81 points with 20.878 million shares.

BR Power Generation and Distribution Index increased by 185.07 points or 0.99 percent to close at 18,813.58 points with 29.747 million shares.

BR Oil and Gas Index surged by 237.32 points or 3.2 percent to close at 7,662.33 points with 23.688 million shares.

BR Tech. & Comm. Index soared by 53.5 points or 1.34 percent to close at 4,056.91 points with 83.961 million shares.

Ahsan Mehanti at Arif Habib Corporation said stocks closed bullish on speculations ahead of IMF executive board meeting on September 25, 2024 for approval of $7.0 billion new IMF EFF amid robust economic data on surging remittances, exports and falling trade deficit.

He said the ADB affirmation on $2.0 billion annual concessional loan till 2027, and strong Pak rupee played a catalytic role in bullish close.

Copyright Business Recorder, 2024