PSX stages smart recovery: BRIndex100 snaps losing streak

Fresh buying at dips Tuesday supported the Pakistan Stock Exchange to close on a positive note. BRIndex100 gained 46.35 points or 1.13 percent to close at 4,136.89 points. BRIndex100 touched intraday high of 4,155.45 and intraday low of 4,061.95 points. Volumes stood at 143.213 million shares. BRIndex30 increased by 435.73 points or 2.09 percent to close at 21,295.59 points with a turnover of 113.727 million shares.

The KSE-100 Index surged by 417.76 points or 1.06 percent to close at 39,714.46 points. Trading activity however remained low as daily volumes on the ready counter decreased to 161.527 million shares as compared to 180.766 million shares traded Monday. Foreign investors remained net sellers of shares worth $1.7 million. The market capitalization increased by Rs 94 billion to Rs 7.526 trillion. Out of total 342 active scrips, 220 closed in positive, 109 in negative while the value of 13 stocks remained unchanged.

Hascol Petroleum was the volume leader with 12.853 million shares. It increased by Rs 1.02 to close at Rs 22.65 followed by Unity Foods that gained Re 0.45 to close at Rs 12.21 with 12.578 million shares. Rafhan Maize and Pak Tobacco were the top gainers with Rs 145.00 and Rs 107.71, respectively to close at Rs 6,700.00 and Rs 2,270.11. Sanofi-Aventis and Atlas Honda Limited were the top losers with Rs 39.55 and Rs 19.00, respectively to close at Rs 630.00 and Rs 380.00. BR Automobile Assembler Index gained 30.18 points or 0.53 percent to close at 5,678.09 points with total turnover of 1.262 million shares.

BR Cement Index increased by 107.34 points or 3 percent to close at 3,690.44 points with 22.732 million shares. BR Commercial Banks Index lost 10.53 points or 0.11 percent to close at 9,493.01 points with 15.993 million shares.

BR Power Generation and Distribution Index surged by 162.3 points or 3.01 percent to close at 5,553.86 points with 5.438 million shares.

BR Oil and Gas Index closed at 4,413.65 points, up 81.76 points or 1.89 percent with 20.875 million shares. BR Tech. & Comm. Index inched up by 15.93 points or 1.62 percent to close at 1,000.73 points with 23.242 million shares. Ahsan Mehanti at Arif Habib Corporation said that the stocks showed recovery led by scrips across-the-board on strong valuations amid bull-run in global equities and surge in global crude oil prices.

He said that investor speculations over Rs 150 billion target in SOEs privatisation program amid ongoing IMF-Pak performance review played a catalytic role in bullish close in the earnings season rally at PSX.