BRIndex100 turns green

Pakistan Stock Exchange (PSX) closed higher Tuesday, backed mainly by easing political uncertainty following the appointment of caretaker prime minister. BRIndex100 increased by 64.63 points or 1.44 percent to close at 4,553.41 points compared to 4,488.78 points Monday. BRIndex100 touched intraday high of 4,557.53 points and intraday low of 4,493.05 points. Trading volume stood at 102.35 million shares. TRG Pak was the most traded company in BRIndex100 with a volume of 11.356 million.
BRIndex30 opened at 22,464.05 points. It touched intraday high of 22,885.51 points and intraday low of 22,508.37 points. It closed at 22,855.24 points which was 391.19 points or 1.74 percent higher than previous close. Volume stood at 70.824 million.
The benchmark KSE-100 gained 484.16 points to close at 42,622.74 points down from 42.138.58 points. Volumes remained lackluster, accumulating at 120 million shares for the day as compared to 139 million shares traded Monday. The market capitalization declined by Rs 98 billion to Rs 8.861 trillion.
Analysts at Topline said Pakistan equities escalated the day after finalization of caretaker prime minister by the concerned authorities in Pakistan. Post this development, the market posted return of 1 1.15 percent or 484 points in a single day, closing at 42,623 index level.
History suggests, Pakistan equities have posted average return of 17 percent based on last 4 caretaker setups since 1993. To note, interim setup in Pakistan will begin from June 1, 2018.
Blue chips tempted investors amidst appealing valuation, where major gain to index came from HBL, MCB, LUCK, and PSO. TRG, PAEL, and LOTCHEM remained top traded symbols with volume of 11 million, 10 million, and 6.4 million shares, respectively.
Ahsan Mehanti of Arif Habib said stocks closed bullish on easing political uncertainty amid appointment of caretaker PM.
He said foreign outflow, weak global stocks and falling global crude prices invited early session pressure. Upbeat data on fertilizer offtake for April ''18 rising by 27 percent, surging textile exports for April ''18 and speculations on likely $2bn safe deposit inflows to support current account deficit played a catalytic role in bullish close, he added.
TRG Pak was the volume leader with 11.35 million shares. It gained Re 0.98 to close at Rs 27.40 followed by Pak Elektron which increased by Rs 1.79 to Rs 37.67 with 6.99 million shares. Lotte Chemical was the third highest trading share with 6.4 million share volume, closing at Rs 10.97, up Re 0.63.
Pak Tobacco and Bata (Pak) were the top gainers with Rs 85.38 and Rs 75.33 to close at Rs 2,250.00 and Rs 2,079.00, respectively. Rafhan Maize and Island Textile were the top losers with Rs 348.00 and Rs 53.48 to Rs 8,050.00 and Rs 1,025.00, respectively.
BR Commercial Banks Index closed at 8,632.24 with a net positive change of 119.49 points or a percentage change of 1.4 and a total turnover of 10,335,300. BR Cement Index Closed at 5,151.84 with a net positive change of 90.45 points or a percentage change of 1.79 and a total turnover of 15,047,350.
BR Oil and Gas Index closed at 5,330.58 with a net positive change of 44.64 points or a percentage change of 0.84 and a total turnover of 3,167,000.
BR Tech. & Comm. Index closed at 1,118.56 with a net positive change of 25.56 points or a percentage change of 2.34 and a total turnover of 13,482,000.
BR Power Generation and Distribution Index closed at 6,290.52 with a net positive change of 68.94 points or a percentage change of 1.11 and a total turnover of 6,047,000.
Analysts at JS said the market witnessed recovery in Tuesday''s trading session as value investors took the opportunity to buy stocks at attractive prices. KSE-100 index made an intraday high of +529 points.
On sector-wise front, cement sector led the gains in the market where DGKC (+2.84%), LUCK (+2.43%), FCCL (+2.10%) and MLCF (+1.51%) closed in the green zone.
Commercial banks heavyweights closed higher than their previous day close where big banks boosted the index by 111 points. MCB (+2.70%), HBL (+2.09%) and UBL (+0.37%) were the major movers of the mentioned sector.
Fertilizer sector showed positive momentum on back of strong urea offtake depicting growth of 50 percent in April 2018 compared with the same period of last year. FFBL (+4.68%) and EFERT (+1.25%) were the major movers from the sector.