PSX snaps meltdown

KARACHI: Pakistan Stock Exchange Friday witnessed positive trend on the back of fresh buying at attractive low levels.

The market opened on bullish note and remained in green zone for most part of the day. The benchmark KSE-100 Index hit 44,195.99 points intraday high and 43,805.04 points intraday low before closing at 43,984.24 points with a net gain of 153.73 points or 0.35 percent.

Trading activity however remained low as daily volumes on ready counter decreased to 241.639 million shares as compared to 350.059 million shares traded Thursday while total daily traded value declined to Rs 6.737 billion against previous day’s Rs 8.752 billion.

BRIndex100 gained 8.54 points or 0.19 percent to close at 4,434.51 points with total daily turnover of 200.649 million shares.

BRIndex30 increased by 104.25 points or 0.66 percent to close at 15,965.07 points with total daily trading volumes of 147.911 million shares.

Foreign investors however remained net sellers of shares worth $768, 377. The market capitalization increased by Rs 39 billion to Rs 7.537 trillion. Out of total 356 active scrips, 200 closed in positive and 130 in negative while the value of 26 stocks remained unchanged.

WorldCall Telecom was the volume leader with 33.254 million shares and gained Rs 0.04 to close at Rs 1.72 followed by Flying Cement (R ) that closed at Rs 1.09, down Rs 0.10 with 15.397 million shares. Telecard Limited lost Rs 0.34 to close at Rs 13.85 with 11.097 million shares.

Rafhan Maize and Bata Pak were the top gainers increasing by Rs 266.67 and Rs 110.00 respectively to close at Rs 10,766.67 and Rs 2100.00 while Otsuka Pak and Premier Sugar were the top losers declining by Rs 16.91 and Rs 12.00 respectively to close at Rs 210.10 and Rs 565.00.

“In line with international markets, the KSE-100 Index traded in positive zone for the most part of trading session to close at 43,984 level, up by 0.35 percent”, an analyst at Topline Securities said.

Major contribution to the index came from FFC, MEBL, ENGRO, PAKT and UNITY, as they cumulatively contributed 114 points to the index. On the flip side NBP, PPL, TRG, OGDC and MCB lost value to weigh down on the index by 107 points.

BR Automobile Assembler Index gained 63.47 points or 0.7 percent to close at 9,100.80 points with total turnover of 1.473 million shares.

BR Cement Index lost 14.33 points or 0.27 percent to close at 5,322.45 points with 10.449 million shares.

BR Commercial Banks Index inched up by 20.66 points or 0.21 percent to close at 10,015.70 points with 14.654 million shares.

BR Power Generation and Distribution Index added 1.68 points or 0.03 percent to close at 5,759.34 points with 10.242 million shares.

BR Oil and Gas Index fell by 9.38 points or 0.24 percent to close at 3,852.49 points with 7.173 million shares.

BR Tech. & Comm. Index closed at 3,259.74 points, down 14.55 points or 0.44 percent with 70.582 million shares.

An analyst at Arif Habib Limited said that the market witnessed positive momentum as Western Allies see Kyiv falling to Russian Army within hours.

Sectors contributing to the performance include Fertilizer (up 70.2 points), Banks (up 25.8 points), OMC’s (up 22.1 points), Tobacco (up 16.3 points) and Vanaspati & Allied (up 15.4 points).

Copyright Business Recorder, 2022