BRIndex100 inches up

Pakistan Stock Exchange witnessed a mixed trend Wednesday. However, late buying in select stocks supported the market to close in positive territory. BRIndex100 closed at 4,225.68 points, up 5.76 points or 0.14 percent. BRIndex100 touched intraday high of 4,234.01 and intraday low of 4,196.45 points. Volumes stood at 106.776 million shares. BRIndex30 gained 30.16 points to close at 21,156.18 points with a turnover of 82.508 million shares.
The benchmark KSE-100 index increased by 38.76 points to 39,672.89 points. Daily trading volumes increased to 114.913 million shares as compared to 113.001 million shares traded Tuesday. Foreign investors remained net sellers of shares worth $12.5 million. The market capitalization increased by Rs 27 billion to Rs 8.336 trillion. Out of total 346 active scrips, 185 closed in positive, 141 in negative while the value of 20 stocks remained unchanged.
TRG Pak was the volume leader with 17.065 million shares. It increased by Rs 1.69 to close at Rs 37.81 followed by K-Electric that gained Rs 0.16 to close at Rs 6.29 with 11.004 million shares. Philip Morris and Khyber Tobacco were the top gainers with Rs 151.12 and Rs 45.93, respectively to close at Rs 3,173.61 and Rs 1,434.90. Siemens Pak and Island Textile were the top losers with Rs 46.86 and Rs 38.99, respectively to close at Rs 890.45 and Rs 795.00.
BR Commercial Banks Index gained 35.86 points or 0.47 percent to close at 7,586.32 points total turnover of 7.104 million shares. BR Cement Index lost 8.99 points or 0.18 percent to close at 4,973.31 points with total volumes of 13.819 million shares. BR Oil and Gas Index closed at 4,986.57 points, up 2.8 points or 0.06 percent with 6.190 million shares.
BR Tech. & Comm. Index gained 21.74 points or 1.86 percent to close at 1,192.55 points with 21.640 million shares. BR Power Generation and Distribution Index closed at 6,369.62 points, up 30.44 points or 0.48 percent with total turnover of 14.880 million shares. Ahsan Mehanti at Arif Habib Corporation said that stocks closed higher amid institutional interest in selected oversold oil, cement and fertilizer scrips on strong valuations. Higher global crude prices, reports of over $30 billion CPEC investment in first phase, government plans to raise $2-3 billion in Eurobond and Sukuk to support dwindling forex reserves and surging current account deficit, upbeat financial results in selected oil, fertilizer and auto scrips played a catalyst role in higher close.