Pakistan Stock Exchange Wednesday witnessed a bullish trend on the back of hefty buying by local and foreign investors. BRIndex100 gained 120.14 points or 2.68 percent to close at 4,610.12 points. The index touched an intraday high of 4,612.82 points and an intraday low of 4,483.18 points. The volume stood at 158.353 million shares.
BRIndex30 increased by 636.3 points to 23,050.94 points with total volume of 114.496 million shares. The benchmark KSE-100 index surged by 1,030.82 points to 42,310.12 points. Trading activity also improved as daily volumes on the ready counter increased to 173.814 million shares as compared to 99.676 million shares traded Tuesday.
Foreign investors remained net buyers of shares worth $2.1 million. The market capitalization increased by Rs 177 billion to Rs 8.831 trillion. Out of total 388 active scrips, 285 closed in positive, only 82 in negative while the value of 21 stocks remained unchanged.
Azgard Nine was the volume leader with 22.079 million shares. However, it lost Rs 0.22 to close at Rs 13.39 followed by TRG Pak that increased by Rs 1.27 to close at Rs 38.78 with 11.093 million shares. Bata Pak and Nestle Pakistan were the top gainers with Rs 120.00 and Rs 114.00, respectively to close at Rs 2,980.00 and Rs 12,300.00. Atlas Battery and Hinopak Motor were the top losers with Rs 36.94 and Rs 20.25, respectively to close at Rs 710.06 and Rs 1079.75.
BR Commercial Banks Index increased by 213.18 points to close at 8,191.25 points with total turnover of 21.267 million shares. BR Cement Index gained 100.72 points or 1.67 percent to close at 6,130.50 points with total turnover of 11.364 million shares.
BR Oil and Gas Index surged by 188.53 points or 3.94 percent to close at 4,972.36 points with total turnover of 14.651 million shares. BR Tech. & Comm. Index closed at 1,247.97, up 33.48 points or 2.76 percent with total turnover of 17.606 million shares. BR Power Generation and Distribution Index closed at 6,897.76 points, up 98.46 points or 1.45 percent with 9.614 million shares.
Maaz Mulla at JS Global Capital said that bulls ruled the local bourse, taking the KSE-100-index up by 1,031 points to close at 42,310 level where banking, cement and E&P sectors led the optimism. Increase in the heavyweight stocks including HBL (up 4.42 percent), OGDC (up 4.83 percent), UBL (up 2.90 percent), PSO (up 3.86 percent) and Engro (up 4.51 percent) caused the market a weight gain. MLCF (up 0.86 percent) posted financial results for FY17, reporting an EPS of Rs 9.06 and final DPS of Rs 1.75. Also, HASCOL (up 4.92 percent) closed near its upper circuit on the back of news regarding issuance of 20 percent rights shares at Rs 165/share. PSMC (up 2.60 percent), MTL (up 1.15 percent) and AGTL (up 1.80 percent) gained on account of positive monthly sales numbers released by PAMA.