PSX snaps losing streak

KARACHI: Pakistan Stock Exchange Friday witnessed another rangebound session as investors remained cautious and avoided taking fresh positions.

The market, after moving in both directions, managed to close on a positive note due to fresh buying in some stocks at the fag end.

The benchmark KSE-100 Index hit 41,393.91 points intraday high and 41,087.59 points intraday low before closing at 41,301.48 points, up 121.72 points or 0.30 percent.

Trading activity remained thin as daily volumes on the ready counter decreased to 139.659 million shares as compared to 245.017 million shares traded Thursday while total daily traded value on ready counter declined to Rs 4.167 billion against previous session’s Rs 7.595 billion.

BRIndex100 gained 5.95 points or 0.14 percent to close at 4,109.88 points with total daily turnover of 110.583 million shares.

BRIndex30 lost 11.4 points or 0.08 percent to close at 14,848.01 points with total daily trading volumes of 54.226 million shares.

Foreign investors remained net sellers of shares worth $2.324 million. Total market capitalization increased by Rs 20 billion to Rs 6.564 trillion. Out of total 330 active scrips, 185 closed in negative and 124 in positive while the value of 21 stocks remained unchanged.

Bank Alfalah was the volume leader with 17.468 million shares and gained Rs 0.06 to close at Rs 30.75 followed by WorldCall Telecom that closed at Rs 1.27, down Rs 0.02 with 12.449 million shares. Dewan Motors lost Rs 0.68 to close at Rs 14.55 with 8.107 million shares.

Unilever Foods and Pak Services were the top gainers increasing by Rs 1000.00 and Rs 100.00 respectively to close at Rs 25000.00 and Rs 1450.00 while Mehmood Textile and Bhanero Textile were the top losers declining by Rs 28.00 and Rs 17.72 respectively to close at Rs 860.00 and Rs 1125.00.

An analyst at Topline Securities said that a rangebound session was observed at the exchange as the index traded between its intraday high of plus 122 points and intraday low of minus 92 points, to finally close at 41,301 level, up by 0.3 percent.

Major contribution to the index came from SYS, PSEL, PPL, KAPCO and EFERT, as they cumulatively contributed plus 153 points to the index. On the flip side MTL, DAWH, BAHL, ENGRO and UBL lost value to weigh down on the index by minus 64 points.

BR Automobile Assembler Index declined by 100.01 points or 1.26 percent to close at 7,840.87 points with total turnover of 8.610 million shares.

BR Cement Index gained 13.68 points or 0.35 percent to close at 3,966.36 points with 7.857 million shares.

BR Commercial Banks Index lost 31.71 points or 0.39 percent to close at 8,180.31 points with 26.879 million shares.

BR Power Generation and Distribution Index inched up by 5.0 points or 0.08 percent to close at 6,486.20 points with 7.848 million shares.

BR Oil and Gas Index added 18.98 points or 0.51 percent to close at 3,762.83 points with 12.333 million shares.

BR Tech. & Comm. Index increased by 53.04 points or 1.13 percent to close at 4,749.94 points with 23.048 million shares. Ahsan Mehanti at Arif Habib Corporation said that stocks showed recovery led by select scrips across-the-board on the back of corporate share buybacks and the IMF affirmation on productive discussion with regard to 9th review.

He said ADB approval of $775 million financing, rupee stability and government decision to slash POL prices easing industrial strain played a catalyst role in positive close.

Copyright Business Recorder, 2022