KARACHI: Pakistan Stock Exchange Friday closed on a positive note on the last day of 2021 on the back of healthy buying, mainly by local investors.

The benchmark KSE-100 Index increased by 179.87 points or 0.40 percent to close at 44,596.07 points. Trading activity also improved as daily volumes on ready counter increased to 317.646 million shares as compared to 243.084 million shares traded Thursday.

BRIndex100 gained 9.34 points or 0.2 percent to close at 4,577.34 points with a turnover of 284.806 million shares.

BRIndex30 closed at 19,376.46 points, down 186.19 points or 0.95 percent with total daily trading volumes of 217.731 million shares.

Foreign investors however remained net sellers of shares worth $295,734. Total market capitalization increased by Rs 63 billion to Rs 7.684 trillion. Out of total 361 active scrips, 215 closed in positive and 130 in negative while the value of 16 stocks remained unchanged.

WorldCall Telecom was the volume leader with 41.966 million shares and closed at Rs 2.08, up Rs 0.01 followed by Cnergyico PK that gained Rs 0.15 to close at Rs 6.81 with 39.830 million shares.

Nestle Pakistan and Bata Pak were the top gainers increasing by Rs 302.98 and Rs 71.16 respectively to close at Rs 5725.49 and Rs 2171.15 while Blessed Textile and Mehmood Textile were the top losers declining by Rs 35.62 and Rs 33.33 respectively to close at Rs 450.00 and Rs 445.00.

An analyst at Arif Habib Limited said that the market continued to remain subdued even after approval of mini-budget by the cabinet. The market opened on the positive note due to rally in cement stocks as international coal prices dropped for the second consecutive session. In the second session, profit-taking was witnessed across the board. Activity continued to remain side-ways as market witnessed hefty volumes in the 3rd tier stocks.

Sectors contributing to the performance include E&P (up 73 points), Commercial Banks (up 64 points), Fertilizer (up 50 points) Cement (up 36 points) and Food and Personal Care (up 20 points).

BR Automobile Assembler Index lost 18.4 points or 0.22 percent to close at 8,491.53 points with total turnover of 3.733 million shares.

BR Cement Index increased by 66.19 points or 1.15 percent to close at 5,838.56 points with 20.460 million shares.

BR Commercial Banks Index added 65.04 points or 0.67 percent to close at 9,762.74 points with 30.340 million shares.

BR Power Generation and Distribution Index inched up by 2.72 points or 0.05 percent to close at 5,550.35 points with 17.460 million shares.

BR Oil and Gas Index surged by 49.84 points or 1.34 percent to close at 3,782.65 points with 14.075 million shares.

BR Tech. & Comm. Index declined by 116 points or 2.72 percent to close at 4,144.99 points with 77.161 million shares.

An analyst at Topline Securities said that the market remained largely positive during the trading session, as the index increased 180 points to close at 44,596 level, up by 0.4 percent.

HBL, FFC, POL, MCB and OGDC cumulatively contributed 126 points to the index.

Copyright Business Recorder, 2022

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