Equities edge up

KARACHI: Pakistan Stock Exchange Thursday witnessed a mixed trend due to investors’ lack of interest in the absence of any positive trigger.

The benchmark KSE-100 Index hit 42,134.84 points intraday high and 41,900.64 points intraday low before closing at 42,085.72 points, up 78.58 points or 0.19 percent.

Trading activity also remained low as total daily volumes on ready counter decreased to 222.227 million shares as compared to 238.657 million shares traded Wednesday however, total daily traded value on ready counter increased to Rs 9.669 billion against previous session’s Rs 7.853 billion.

BRIndex100 gained 10.34 points or 0.24 percent to close at 4,233.42 points with total daily turnover of 196.728 million shares.

BRIndex30 lost 42.33 points or 0.26 percent to close at 16,060.93 points with total daily trading volumes of 149.777 million shares.

Foreign investors remained net sellers of shares worth $312,781. The market capitalization increased by Rs 16 billion to Rs 6.852 trillion. Out of total 341 active scrips, 161 closed in negative and 158 in positive while the value of 22 stocks remained unchanged.

WorldCall Telecom was the volume leader with 50.643 million shares and gained Rs 0.01 to close at Rs 1.52 followed by TRG Pak that declined by Rs 1.11 to close at Rs 128.47 with 23.196 million shares. Pak Refinery closed at Rs 17.98, up Rs 0.16 with 9.604 million shares.

Colgate Palmolive and Sapphire Textile were the top gainers increasing by Rs 72.21 and Rs 35.00 respectively to close at Rs 2,086.00 and Rs 1,099.00 while Faisal Spinning and Reliance Cotton were the top losers declining by Rs 25.00 and Rs 24.00 respectively to close at Rs 385.00 and Rs 570.00.

An analyst at Topline Securities said that Pakistan equities closed slight positive where benchmark KSE-100 Index settled at 42,085 level, up 0.19 percent.

Rangebound activity witnessed at the bourse where market made an intraday high of 114 points and an intraday low of 106 points. Investors interest mostly witnessed in Technology sector where SYS close 4.69 percent higher.

BR Automobile Assembler Index gained 23.15 points or 0.25 percent to close at 9,113.56 points with total turnover of 2.521 million shares.

BR Cement Index lost 6.64 points or 0.14 percent to close at 4,622.76 points with 9.507 million shares.

BR Commercial Banks Index fell by 18.5 points or 0.23 percent to close at 8,199.50 points with 5.346 million shares.

BR Power Generation and Distribution Index inched up by 0.66 points or 0.01 percent to close at 6,405.24 points with 12.598 million shares.

BR Oil and Gas Index added 9.7 points or 0.26 percent to close at 3,735.50 points with 11.787 million shares.

BR Tech. & Comm. Index increased by 87.46 points or 1.99 percent to close at 4,482.92 points with 104.082 million shares.

An analyst at Arif Habib Limited said that another rangebound session was witnessed at the PSX.

Despite opening in the green zone the benchmark KSE-100 index recorded a lackluster session as investor participation remained low, which caused the volumes to decline sharply. The market fluctuated in both directions but ended up in the green as the IT sector remained in the limelight.

Sectors contributing to the performance include Technology (up 77.1 points), E&P (up 15.5 points), Refinery (up 8.1 points), Chemical (up 8.0 points) and Fertilizer (up 6.6 points).

Copyright Business Recorder, 2022