BRIndex100 flat

Pakistan Stock Exchange Thursday managed to close in positive territory due to select buying, mainly by local investors. BRIndex100 gained 14.01 points or 0.3 percent to close at 4,677.40 points. BRIndex100 touched intraday high of 4,679.87 and intraday low of 4,657.64 points. Volumes stood at 186.768 million shares. BRIndex30 surged by 153.77 points or 0.64 percent to 24,144.20 points with a turnover of 94.941 million shares.
The benchmark KSE-100 index increased by 87.35 points to 43,495.07 points. Trading activity improved as daily volumes on the ready counter increased to 220.440 million shares as compared to 198.432 million shares traded Wednesday. Foreign investors remained net sellers of shares worth $0.1 million. The market capitalization increased by Rs 25 billion to Rs 9.090 trillion. Out of total 381 active scrips, 206 closed in positive, 147 in negative while the value of 28 stocks remained unchanged.
Lotte Chemical was the volume leader with 34.703 million shares. It gained Re 0.38 to close at Rs 10.15 followed by Nimir Resins that inched up by Re 0.97 to close at Rs 10.20 with 13.497 million shares. Bata Pak and Colgate Palmolive were the top gainers with Rs 95.17 and Rs 49.13, respectively to close at Rs 2,995.17 and Rs 3,149.13. Rafhan Maize and Service Industries were the top losers with Rs 50.00 and Rs 17.80, respectively to close at Rs 7,700.00 and Rs 739.20.
BR Commercial Banks Index gained 9.84 points or 0.11 percent to close at 8,701.11 points with total turnover of 11.495 million shares. BR Cement Index lost 19.52 points or 0.33 percent to close at 5,874.83 points with 5.099 million shares. BR Oil and Gas Index inched up by 19.49 points or 0.38 percent to close at 5,181.12 points with 3.073 million shares.
BR Tech. & Comm. Index closed at 1,207.44 points, up 8.35 points or 0.7 percent with 14.777 million shares. BR Power Generation and Distribution Index increased by 20.28 points or 0.32 percent to close at 6,405.85 points with 3.706 million shares. An analyst at Topline Securities said that Pakistan equities closed flat during the session owing to lack of any trigger in the market. Investors were waiting for any major development on macro/fiscal side from the government to arrest external account woes.
The benchmark Index closed at level of 43,495 index level witnessing meager growth of 0.2 percent. Chemical sector is gaining attention of market participant's for last two days, where LOTCHEM continued its top position on volume leader's chart (35 million shares) as margins of the sector constituents are improving. E&P scrips added 38 points to index gain as international crude oil price was up by 30cents. Healthy trading in small cap stocks helped volumetric activity to grow with 11 percent however traded value was down by 16 percent.
Top 5 stocks including HBL (up 1.1 percent) PIBTL (up 6.1 percent) POL (up 1.1 percent) OGDC (up 0.6 percent) and PAKT (up 2.1 percent) added 93 points to the index gain, whereas stocks including UBL (down 1.2 percent), LUCK (down 0.7 percent), FFC (down 0.5 percent), AICL (down 1.7 percent) and CHCC (down 1.7 percent), withheld 52 points from the index.