KARACHI: Pakistan Stock Exchange Wednesday witnessed another bullish session on the back of healthy buying in various sectors.

The benchmark KSE-100 Index increased by 160.29 points or 0.38 percent and crossed 42,000 psychological level to close at 42,087.93 points. The index hit 42,171.48 points intraday high and 41,914.46 points intraday low.

Trading activity also improved as daily volumes on the ready counter increased to 289.835 million shares as compared to 220.030 million shares traded Tuesday The daily traded value on ready counter increased to Rs 10.178 billion against previous session’s Rs 6.494 billion.

BRIndex100 gained 16.03 points or 0.38 percent to close at 4,274.30 points with total daily turnover of 262.220 million shares.

BRIndex30 added 46.73 points or 0.31 percent to close at 14,976.87 points with total daily trading volumes of 176.244 million shares.

Foreign investors also remained net buyers of shares worth $3.425 million. Total market capitalization increased by Rs 28 billion to Rs 6.342 trillion. Out of total 365 active scrips, 180 closed in negative and 160 in positive while the value of 25 stocks remained unchanged.

WorldCall Telecom was the volume leader with 55.300 million shares and gained Rs 0.08 to close at Rs 1.24 followed by Habib Bank that inched up by Rs 0.30 to close at Rs 78.24 with 23.530 million shares. Maple Leaf Cement closed at Rs 28.77, up Rs 0.36 with 16.457 million shares.

Unilever Foods and Bhanero Textile were the top gainers increasing by Rs 1537.50 and Rs 69.04 respectively to close at Rs 22137.50 and Rs 989.55 while Sapphire Textile and Sapphire Fiber were the top losers declining by Rs 74.06 and Rs 50.00, respectively to close at Rs 1100.94 and Rs 1000.00.

An analyst at Arif Habib Limited said that another positive session was taped at the PSX. The benchmark KSE-100 index opened with the same optimistic feelings as the previous close, as the trade deficit shrank by 39.62 percent year on year to $23.71 billion in the first 10 months of FY23, providing investors a sense of optimism. Investor engagement surged considerably as main-board volumes increased, although the banking and cement sectors remained market trendsetters.

Sectors contributing to the performance include Cement (up 139.5 points), Paper & Board (up 21.8 points), E&P (up 17.5 points), Food & Personal Care Products (up 11.9 points) and OMCs (up 9.7 points).

BR Automobile Assembler Index lost 49.73 points or 0.64 percent to close at 7,672.78 points with total turnover of 1.236 million shares.

BR Cement Index surged by 175.86 points or 4.27 percent to close at 4,290.58 points with 49.573 million shares.

BR Commercial Banks Index inched up by 6.83 points or 0.08 percent to close at 8,914.48 points with 49.143 million shares.

BR Power Generation and Distribution Index gained 27.7 points or 0.38 percent to close at 7,363.41 points with 9.177 million shares.

BR Oil and Gas Index added 16.71 points or 0.42 percent to close at 3,980.13 points with 25.289 million shares.

BR Tech. & Comm. Index declined by 53.11 points or 1.32 percent to close at 3,978.84 points with 65.867 million shares.

Sara Saeed at JS Global Capital said that the KSE-100 index closed the day at 42,088, gaining 160 points.

A total of 290 million shares were traded throughout the day with highest contribution coming from WTL (up 6.9 percent), HBL (up 0.4 percent), MLCF (up 1.3 percent), TPLP (up 1.5 percent) and FFL (down 1.5 percent).

Copyright Business Recorder, 2023