RECORDER REPORT

KARACHI: Pakistan Stock Exchange managed to close in positive territory on the back of healthy buying in various sectors Friday.

BRIndex100 closed at 4,752.84 points, up 0.85 points or 0.02 percent. BRIndex100 touched intraday high of 4,799.09 and intraday low of 4,744.90 points. Volumes stood at 266.959 million shares.

BRIndex30 increased by 71.05 points or 0.29 percent to 24,749.24 points with a turnover of 205.125 million shares.

The benchmark KSE-100 index gained 45.72 points to 44,301.20 points. Trading activity also improved as daily volumes increased to 284.372 million shares as compared to 228.317 million shares traded Thursday.

The market capitalization increased by Rs 33 billion to Rs 9.171 trillion. Out of total 375 active scrips, 219 closed in positive, 131 in negative while the value of 25 stocks remained unchanged.

Lotte Chemical was the volume leader with 49.349 million shares. It gained Re 0.33 to close at Rs 9.06 followed by Dewan Cement that increased by Rs 1.28 to close at Rs 28.97 with 19.458 million shares.

Nestle Pakistan and Rafhan Maize were the top gainers with Rs 454.00 and Rs 350.00, respectively to close at Rs 11,504.00 and Rs 7,350.00. Pak Tobacco and Khyber Tobacco were the top losers with Rs 71.03 and Rs 44.57, respectively to close at Rs 1,995.66 and Rs 846.98.

BR Commercial Banks Index lost 40.3 points or 0.46 percent to close at 8,798.24 points with total turnover of 20.891 million shares.

BR Cement Index decreased by 56.44 points or 0.92 percent to close at 6,073.78 points with 50.415 million shares.

BR Oil and Gas Index gained 49.12 points or 0.93 percent to close at 5,316.11 points with 11.022 million shares.

BR Tech. & Comm. Index inched up by 15.69 points or 1.31 percent to close at 1,214.89 points with 24.986 million shares.

BR Power Generation and Distribution Index closed at 6,622.49 points, up 6.86 points or 0.1 percent with 14.060 million shares.

An analyst at Arif Habib Limited said that the market maintained positive attitude throughout the day and went up by 382 points. Selling pressure in cement, power and banks erased the gains made during the day. Significant activity was observed in LOTCHEM, which picked pace after result announcement and hit 49 million mark by session end.

Scripts that contributed positively include OGDC (up 26 points), NESTLE (up 21 points), PPL (up 20 points), TRG (up 17 points) and MCB (up 16 points). Stocks that contributed negatively include HUBC (down 39 points), PAKT (down 18 points), HBL (down 15 points), DGKC (down 12 points) and FCCL (down 12 points).