BRIndex100 gains 17.9 points

Pakistan Stock Exchange witnessed a mixed trend due to lack of investor interest. BRIndex100 gained 17.9 points or 0.4 percent to close at 4,536.73 points Tuesday. BRIndex100 touched intraday high of 4,544.78 and intraday low of 4,447.29 points. Volumes stood at 160.005 million shares. BRIndex30 increased by 169.57 points or 0.75 percent to close at 22,731.00 points with a turnover of 119.745 million shares.
The benchmark KSE-100 index lost 39.33 points to close at 42,459.53 points. Daily trading volumes increased to 181.104 million shares as compared to 176.122 million shares traded Monday.
Foreign investors remained net sellers of shares worth $10.4 million. The market capitalization declined by Rs 35 billion to Rs 8.728 trillion. Out of total 351 active scrips, 185 closed in positive, 142 in negative while the value of 24 stocks remained unchanged.
Fauji Cement was the volume leader with 16.856 million shares. It gained Re 0.16 to close at Rs 25.79 followed by Bank of Punjab that inched up by Re 0.37 to close at Rs 11.61 with 12.275 million shares. Rafhan Maize and Bata Pak were the top gainers with Rs 90.00 and Rs 37.15, respectively to close at Rs 8,200.00 and Rs 2,240.00. Nestle Pakistan and Unilever Foods that lost Rs 629.90 and Rs 405.00, respectively to close at Rs 11,970.10 and Rs 7,695.00.
BR Commercial Banks Index lost 14.25 points or 0.17 percent to close at 8,465.62 points with total turnover of 20.527 million shares.
BR Cement Index gained 15.21 points or 0.29 percent to close at 5,335.83 points with 40.978 million shares.
BR Oil and Gas Index inched up by 19.81 points or 0.37 percent to close at 5,357.29 points with 10.088 million shares.
BR Tech. & Comm. Index closed at 1,128.06 points, up 25.87 points or 2.35 percent with 12.162 million shares.
BR Power Generation and Distribution Index increased by 30.59 points or 0.49 percent to close at 6,255.89 points with 7.176 million shares.
Maaz Mulla at JS Global Capital said that market continued its steep decline during the initial hours of the trading session, making an intraday low of minus 653 points. However, hefty buying in heavyweight stocks during the latter hours resulted in strong recovery, resulting in KSE-100 closing at 42,459 level, down 39 points.
Amongst cement companies, MLCF (up 3.87 percent), CHCC (up 3.78 percent), FCCL (up 0.62 percent) and DGKC (up 0.66 percent) closed in the green zone as investors picked these stocks at attractive prices. HCAR (down 1.43 percent) from the auto sector declared its full-year result, where the auto maker declared an EPS of Rs 45.48 and announced a final cash payout of Rs 22.75/share.