Pakistan Stock Exchange witnessed a rangebound session with the 100-index moving both ways Thursday. BRIndex100 gained 9.72 points or 0.21 percent to close at 4,617.91 points. BRIndex 100 touched intraday high of 4,626.03 points and an intraday low of 4,589.08 points. The volume stood at 121.909 million shares.
BRIndex30 increased by 40.51 points or 0.17 percent to close at 23,215.19 points with total volumes of 67.014 million shares. Pakistan's benchmark KSE-100 index surged by 72.72 points and closed at 42,362.87 points. Daily trading volumes slightly decreased to 140.399 million shares as compared to 146.791 million shares traded on Wednesday.
Foreign investors remained net sellers of shares worth $1.5 million. The market capitalization increased by Rs 18 billion to Rs 8.826 trillion. Out of total 382 active scrips, 234 closed in positive, 127 in negative while the value of 21 stocks remained unchanged.
Bank of Punjab was the volume leader with 12.309 million shares. It gained Rs 0.36 to close at Rs 9.60 followed by Kohinoor Spinning that closed at Rs 6.30, up Rs 0.19 with 10.395 million shares.
Rafhan Maize and Nestle Pakistan were the top gainers with Rs 193.00 and Rs 99.51, respectively to close at Rs 7,299.00 and Rs 12,999.50. Bata Pak and Mari Petroleum were the top losers with Rs 50.00 and Rs 25.18, respectively to close at Rs 2,900.00 and Rs 1,501.32.
BR Commercial Banks Index Closed at 8,217.65 with a net negative change of -33.76 points or a percentage change of -0.41 and a total turnover of 23,878,500.
BR Cement Index Closed at 5,821.34 with a net negative change of -50.45 points or a percentage change of -0.86 and a total turnover of 8,412,850.
BR Oil and Gas Index closed at 4,931.40 with a net positive change of 16.9 points or a percentage change of 0.34 and a total turnover of 5,392,760.
BR Tech. & Comm. Index closed at 1,267.91 with a net positive change of 24.66 points or a percentage change of 1.98 and a total turnover of 17,863,500.
BR Power Generation and Distribution Index closed at 6,975.60 with a net negative change of -36.71 points or a percentage change of -0.52 and a total turnover of 5,266,200.
Maaz Mulla at JS Global Capital said that the market remained rangebound, as the benchmark KSE-100 index made an intraday low of minus 95 points and a high of plus 166 points, to finally close at 42,363, up 73 points. Oil sector closed positive on higher crude oil prices, spurred by rising tensions around northern Iraq following the autonomous Kurdistan region's vote in favor of independence in a referendum. The major gainers amongst oil plays were POL (up 3.56 percent), ATRL (up 3.05 percent) and PSO (up 0.88 percent), cumulatively contributing 57 points to the index. On the other hand, selling pressure was witnessed in the Cement sector on expected weak offtake for the month of September 2017. LUCK (down 1.04 percent), MLCF (down 2.70 percent) dragged down the index.