Pakistan Stock Exchange (PSX) Friday witnessed another bullish session and the benchmark KSE-100 index gained 226.18 points to close at a new high of 46,584.53 points. Buying was witnessed mainly by local investors and institutions however foreign investors remained net sellers of shares withdrawing $8.6 million from the bourse.
Trading activity also improved as the trading volumes at the ready counter increased to 346.068 million shares as compared to 340.442 million shares traded Thursday. The market capitalisation surged by Rs 30 billion to Rs 9.332 trillion. Out of the total 404 active scrips, 204 closed in positive, 179 in negative while the value of 21 stocks remained unchanged.
Pakistan International Bulk Terminal was the volume leader with 28.248 million shares. It gained Rs 1.68 to close at Rs 37.36 followed by Bank of Punjab that increased by Rs 0.50 to close at Rs 17.45 with 19.150 million shares. Power Cement surged by Rs 0.93 to close at Rs 13.49 with 18.805 million shares.
Sanofi-Aventis and Colgate Palmolive were the top gainers with Rs 109.77 and Rs 82.10, respectively to close at Rs 2305.35 and Rs 1752.17. Unilever Foods and Pak Tobacco were the top losers with Rs 240.00 and Rs 37.32, respectively to close at Rs 5,610.00 and Rs 1,091.01.
Ahsan Mehanti at Arif Habib Securities said the bullish sentiment prevailed pushing the index to new highs led by oil, banking and pharmaceuticals on strong earnings outlook. He said likely revision in Auto Policy 2016-21 with incentives for existing car makers, price hikes in pharmaceutical sector, bullish global equities, higher global crude prices, rising trend in banking spreads played a catalytic role in record close.