Late buying, mainly by foreign investors, supported the KSE-100 index to close in positive at 12,140.84 points with a net gain of 30.58 points. The market witnessed mixed activity throughout the session with the index oscillating between 12,211.18 points intra-day high, up 100.92 points, and 12,024.24 points low, down 86.02 points.
Trading shrank and the volume at ready counter declined to 168.224 million shares as compared to 219.563 million shares traded on Tuesday. Market capitalisation increased by Rs 6 billion to Rs 3.288 trillion. Of 405 active scrips, 224 closed in negative and 170 in positive, while the values of 11 scrips remained unchanged.
Lotte Pakistan PTA was the volume leader with 23.067 million shares and gained Re 0.15 to close at Rs 14.54. Arif Habib Corp increased by Rs 1.18 to close at Rs 26.30 with 15.308 million shares. Fauji Fertiliser Bin Qasim inched up by Re 0.19 to close at Rs 37.02 with 11.040 million shares.
Nishat Chunian Power lost Re 0.34 to close at Rs 16.29 with 9.870 million shares. KESC declined by Re 0.08 to close at Rs 3.30 with 6.822 million shares. Nishat Mills surged by Rs 1.41 to close at Rs 66.94 with 6.434 million shares. Dewan Salman inched up by Re 0.14 to close at Rs 3.30 with 6.096 million shares. DG Khan Cement closed at Rs 30.14, up Re 0.01 with 5.226 million shares.
NBP gained Re 0.15 to close at Rs 76.66 with 5.010 million shares. Jahangir Siddiqui Co lost Re 0.03 to close at Rs 11.02 with 4.757 million shares. Exide Pak and Atlas Honda were the highest gainers increasing by Rs 6.52 and Rs 6.30 to close at Rs 196.50 and Rs 132.37 respectively while Wyeth Pak and Unilever Pak were the worst losers declining by Rs 53.99 and Rs 35.50 to close at Rs 1046.01 and Rs 4342.50 respectively.
Ahsan Mehanti at Arif Habib Investments said that the market remained under pressure during early hours due to prevailing law and order situation in the country. However, later the index recovered its intra-day losses and entered in positive on the back of institutional support and foreign interest in oil and gas, banking and fertiliser sector scrips on strong valuations. The expectation of strong result announcements kept investors in bullish mood despite concerns for Punjab Governor assassination on Tuesday, rising political uncertainty and fall in international oil prices near to $88.