KARACHI: Despite foreign selling, Pakistan Stock Exchange on Wednesday witnessed bullish trend and closed on historic highest ever level with healthy gains on the back of aggressive buying mainly by local investors coupled with institutional support.

The benchmark KSE-100 index surged by 764.28 points or 0.94 percent and crossed 82,000 psychological level to close at 82,247.92 points. During the session, the index hit 82,331.86 points intra-day high, however closed on lower level due to profit taking in some stocks.

Trading activities also improved as total daily volumes on ready counter increased to 422.163 million shares as compared to 369.620 million shares traded on Tuesday while total daily traded value on the ready counter increased to Rs 18.380 billion against previous session’s Rs 17.062 billion.

BRIndex100 added 76.1 points or 0.89 percent to close at 8,668.21 points with total daily turnover of 332.994 million shares.

BRIndex30 increased by 368.89 points or 1.42 percent to close at 26,265.46 points with total daily turnover of 211.049 million shares.

The foreign investors however remained on the selling side and withdrew $2.588 million from the local equity market. Total market capitalization increased by Rs 99 billion to Rs 10.784 trillion. Out of total 437 active scrips, 248 closed in positive and 126 in negative while the value of 63 stocks remained unchanged.

Kohinoor Spining was the volume leader with 51.886 million shares and gained Re 0.88 to close at Rs 8.92 followed by WorldCall Telecom that closed at the previous session’s closing level of Rs 1.25 without any change with 29.716 million shares. Pace (Pak) Limited inched up by Re 0.68 to close at Rs 5.91 with 25.434 million shares.

PIA Holding Company Limited and Hallmark Company were the top gainers increasing by Rs 89.75 and Rs 84.90 respectively to close at Rs 987.29 and Rs 933.90 while Ismail Industries and Mehmood Textile Mills were the top losers declining by Rs 83.28 and Rs 60.40 respectively to close at Rs 1,813.39 and Rs 554.07.

Mubashir Anis Naviwala at JS Global Capital said the KSE-100 index soared to an all-time high of 82,248 closing with a remarkable gain of 764 points.

The market commenced on a positive trajectory, hitting an intraday peak of 82,332. Investor sentiment was buoyed by expectations of positive developments on the Extended Fund Facility (EFF) with the IMF.

Significant interest was observed in the Banking, E&P, Power Generation, and Fertilizer sectors. Among the top volume leaders were OGDC, HBL, ENGRO and TRG.

BR Automobile Assembler Index increased by 193.29 points or 1.13 percent to close at 17,246.52 points with total turnover of 10.913 million shares.

BR Cement Index soared by 156.56 points or 1.99 percent to close at 8,036.03 points with 31.359 million shares.

BR Commercial Banks Index surged by 396.05 points or 1.71 percent to close at 23,563.82 points with 26.953 million shares.

BR Power Generation and Distribution Index lost 53.3 points or 0.31 percent to close at 17,007.37 points with 37.460 million shares.

BR Oil and Gas Index added 77.24 points or 1.04 percent to close at 7,513.69 points with 27.858 million shares.

BR Tech & Comm Index gained 13.27 points or 0.33 percent to close at 3,985.28 points with 59.191 million shares.

Ahsan Mehanti at Arif Habib Corporation said stocks closed all time high on easing political noise and speculation ahead of IMF executive board meeting to approve $7.0 billion IMF EFF.

He said falling Government bond yields amid receding inflation, surging global crude oil prices and rupee recovery played a catalyst role in bullish close.

Copyright Business Recorder, 2024