BRIndex100 inches up

RECORDER REPORT

KARACHI: Pakistan Stock Exchange on Tuesday witnessed mixed trend as the investors remained cautious due to coronavirus spread and declining oil prices in the international market.

BRIndex100 gained 10.51 points or 0.29 percent to close at 3,588.00 points. During the session, the BRIndex-100 hit an intraday high of 3,593.46 and an intraday low of 3,567.78 points. Total volumes stood at 197.542 million shares.

BRIndex30 lost 76.22 points or 0.41 points to close at 18,476.63 points with total daily turnover of 112.199 million shares. KSE-100 Index inched up by 54.03 points or 0.16 percent and closed at 34,803.60 points. Trading activities slightly improved as daily volumes on ready counter increased to 238.282 million shares as compared to 222.416 million shares traded on Monday. The foreign investors remained net sellers of shares worth $3.069 million shares. Total market capitalization however decreased by Rs 2 billion to Rs 6.591 trillion. Out of total 357 active scrips, 190 closed in positive and 143 in negative while the value of 24 stocks remained unchanged.

Lotte Chemical was the volume leader with 36.278 million shares and gained Re 0.73 to close at Rs 10.49 followed by Jahangir Siddiqi and Co that closed at Rs 13.23, up Re 0.37 with 13.278 million shares. Nestle Pakistan and Sanofi-Aventis were the top gainers increasing by Rs 110.00 and Rs 23.86 respectively to close at Rs 6690.00 and Rs 873.99 while Unilever Foods and Rafhan Maize were the top losers declining by Rs 596.00 and Rs 134.99 respectively to close at Rs 9303.00 and Rs 6955.01.

BR Automobile Assembler Index gained 24.88 points or 0.43 percent to close at 5,784.93 points with total turnover of 8.990 million shares.

BR Cement Index inched up by 15.73 points or 0.37 percent to close at 4,239.05 points with 21.187 million shares.

BR Commercial Banks Index increased by 51.41 points or 0.74 percent to close at 6,967.21 points with 19.475 million shares. BR Power Generation and Distribution Index decreased by 38.85 points or 0.88 percent to close at 4,398.31 points with 6.114 million shares.

BR Oil and Gas Index lost 27.5 points or 0.73 percent to close at 3,760.08 points with 14.683 million shares.

BR Tech & Comm Index closed at 1,304.28 points, up 10.67 points or 0.82 percent with 23.018 million shares.

An analyst at Arif Habib Limited said that the market traded in a narrow range between negative 61 points and positive 106 points, closing the session up 54 points.

Decline in international crude oil prices brought oil stocks down, including OGDC, PPL and PSO, which kept selling pressure on the Index. Fertilizer and Pharma sector was not much different and realized profit booking.

Among banks, HBL posted nominal gains but remained largely positive throughout the session due to dividend being part of the price. Auto sector performed well on the expectation of incentives to be offered in the upcoming budget.

Chemical sector realized trading volumes of 47.1 million shares, followed by Technology (22.9 million shares) and Cement (21.2 million shares).

Sectors contributing to the performance include Banks (up 61 points), Cement (up 19 points), Textile (up 16 points), E&P (down 39 points), Power (down 23 points) and Fertilizer (down 12 points).

Stocks that contributed positively to the index include UBL (up 30 points), LUCK (up 27 points), DAWH (up 14 points), AGP (up 13 points) and NESTLE (up 11 points). Stocks that contributed negatively include PPL (down 23 points), HUBC (down 19 points), ENGRO (down 10 points), POL (down 9 points) and PAKT (down 7 points).