RECORDER REPORT
KARACHI: Pakistan Stock Exchange witnessed a positive trend on the back of fresh buying, mainly by local investors.
BRIndex100 gained 30.04 points or 0.64 percent to 4,735.79 points Wednesday. BRIndex100 touched intraday high of 4,759.63 and intraday low of 4,705.53 points. Volumes stood at 242.631 million shares.
BRIndex30 increased by 131.13 points or 0.53 points to 24,692.38 points with a turnover of 180.523 million shares.
The benchmark KSE-100 index surged by 210.98 points to close at 44,096.49 points. Trading activity also improved as daily volumes increased to 269.986 million shares as compared to 237.956 million shares traded Tuesday.
Foreign investors however remained net sellers of shares worth $3.6 million. The market capitalization increased by Rs 43 billion to Rs 9.151 trillion. Out of total 390 active scrips, 192 closed in negative, 176 in positive while the value of 22 stocks remained unchanged.
TRG Pak was the volume leader with 26.845 million shares. However, it lost Re 0.02 to close at Rs 38.85 followed by Azgard Nine that gained Re 0.97 to close at Rs 17.00 with 22.772 million shares. Unilever Foods and Philip Morris Pak were the top gainers with Rs 187.50 and Rs 129.00, respectively to close at Rs 8,387.50 and Rs 3,150.00. Khyber Tobacco and Indus Motor Co were the top losers with Rs 40.23 and Rs 33.07, respectively to close at Rs 764.41 and Rs 1,759.36.
BR Commercial Banks Index increased by 85.28 points or 0.98 percent to close at 8,794.71 points with total turnover of 15.642 million shares.
BR Cement Index surged by 64.16 points or 1.08 percent to close at 6,028.77 points with 16.877 million shares.
BR Oil and Gas Index closed at 5,278.63 points, up 22.18 points or 0.42 percent with 23.800 million shares.
BR Tech. & Comm. Index inched up by 8.26 points or 0.67 percent to close at 1,243.69 points with 36.017 million shares.
BR Power Generation and Distribution Index increased by 41.06 points or 0.63 percent to close at 6,560.05 points with 7.006 million shares.
Danish Ladhani at JS Global Capital said that Pakistan equities edged up higher with the benchmark KSE-100 Index settling at 44,096 levels, up 0.5 percent after making a high of plus 414 points. Market started the day on a positive note after the global markets exhibited a cumulative sigh of ease following the bounce back of Wall Street. On the political front, the US State Department said that they could consider ending suspension of security assistance to Pakistan, if Islamabad takes “decisive and sustained” actions against militant groups in the country. On the economic front, one of the Chinese companies has shown interest in investing $1.0 billion in “Pakistan Post Logistics Company” which would help Pakistan Post become a profitable entity, whereas work on $8.6 billion CPEC rail line is unlikely to begin soon due to slowing down of work pace.
Positive sentiments were witnessed in the Gas Utilities, where SNGP (up 1.16 percent) and SSGC (up 2.92 percent) closed positive. Active participation was seen in SSGC as the Petroleum Division has sought waiver of liquidated damages for non-supply of gas to an IPP. APL (down 0.35 percent) and PSO (down 0.32 percent) closed in the red. PSO came under the hammer as receivables of Pakistan State Oil (PSO) have gone up to Rs 334.1 billion because of default of power sector to the tune of Rs 283 billion. In the E&P sector, POL (up 0.49 percent) and OGDC (up 1.69 percent) closed in the green as oil ticked higher in the International market on bets for drop in U.S. Crude supplies.
