KARACHI: Pakistan Stock Exchange Friday witnessed a bullish trend on the last day of the week on the back of fresh buying, mainly by local investors. BRIndex100 gained 23.63 points or 0.45 percent to close at 5,221.35 points. BRIndex100 hit intraday high of 5,225.14 points and intraday low of 5,197.59 points. Volumes stood at 279.915 million shares.

BRIndex30 increased by 140.11 points or 0.52 percent to close at 26,961.10 points with a turnover of 149.945 million shares.

The KSE-100 Index surged by 206.07 points or 0.43 percent to close at 47,834.33 points. Trading activity however remained low as daily volumes on ready counter decreased to 348.576 million shares as compared to 506.296 million shares traded Thursday.

Foreign investors however remained net sellers of shares worth $229,860. Total market capitalization increased by Rs 50 billion to Rs 8.347 trillion. Out of total 412 active scrips, 255 closed in positive and 133 in negative while the value of 24 stocks remained unchanged.

TLP Corp was the volume leader with 29.692 million shares and gained Rs 0.66 to close at Rs 25.13 followed by Al-Shaheer Corp that inched up by Rs 0.67 to close at Rs 20.75 with 17.754 million shares. Nestle Pakistan and Premium Textile were the top gainers increasing by Rs 84.99 and Rs 27.76 respectively to close at Rs 5900.00 and Rs 422.76 while Unilever Foods and Bata Pak were the top losers declining by Rs 489.00 and Rs 20.00 respectively to close at Rs 16000.00 and Rs 1680.00.

BR Automobile Assembler Index gained 20 points or 0.2 percent to close at 9,936.59 points with total turnover of 6.754 million shares.

BR Cement Index surged by 100.57 points or 1.37 percent to close at 7,460.88 points with 13.493 million shares.

BR Commercial Banks Index inched up by 68.83 points or 0.75 percent to close at 9,265.07 points with 14.953 million shares.

BR Power Generation and Distribution Index lost 19.88 points or 0.35 percent to close at 5,658.70 points with 11.041 million shares.

BR Oil and Gas Index closed at 4,027.74 points, down 18.58 points or 0.46 percent with 12.874 million shares.

BR Tech. & Comm. Index increased by 81.61 points or 1.77 percent to close at 4,694.65 points with 79.928 million shares.

Ahsan Mehanti at Arif Habib Corporation said that the stocks closed bullish led by select scrips across-the-board amid speculations ahead of major earning announcements due next week. Mid-session pressure remained on falling global crude oil prices and foreign outflows.

He said surge in local POL prices by 4.8 percent, PSBA petition stay over scrips excluding future eligibility criteria and speculations on likely resolve to circular debt crises upon government negotiation of IPP deals played a catalyst role in bullish close.

Copyright Business Recorder, 2021