RECORDER REPORT
KARACHI: Pakistan Stock Exchange Monday managed to close in positive zone on the back of select buying at the fag end.
BRIndex100 gained 13.53 points or 0.29 percent to close at 4,727.18 points. BRIndex100 touched intraday high of 4,732.80 and intraday low of 4,703.24 points. Volumes stood at 105.866 million shares.
BRIndex30 increased by 84.41 points or 0.34 percent to 24,586.96 points with a turnover of 67.786 million shares.
The benchmark KSE-100 index surged by 88.59 points to 43,829.08 points. Trading activity remained thin as daily volumes on the ready counter decreased to 137.042 million shares as compared to 229.930 million shares traded Friday.
Foreign investors remained net sellers of shares worth $0.8 million. The market capitalization increased by Rs 39 billion to Rs 9.149 trillion. Out of total 359 active scrips, 172 closed in negative, 170 in positive while the value of 17 stocks remained unchanged.
Unity Foods was the volume leader with 10.222 million shares. It increased by Rs 1.25 to close at Rs 26.27 followed by WorldCall Telecom that gained Re 0.03 to close at Rs 2.51 with 9.062 million shares.
Unilever Foods and Rafhan Maize were the top gainers with Rs 160.00 and Rs 144.00, respectively to close at Rs 9,100.00 and Rs 7,599.00. United Brands and Island Textile were the top losers with Rs 26.72 and Rs 22.00, respectively to close at Rs 507.78 and Rs 1,050.00.
BR Commercial Banks Index gained 11.84 points or 0.13 percent to close at 8,831.59 points with total turnover of 4.112 million shares.
BR Cement Index increased by 49.97 points or 0.84 percent to close at 5,997.49 points with 17.199 million shares.
BR Oil and Gas Index inched up by 7.93 points or 0.15 percent to close at 5,178.09 points with 7.980 million shares.
BR Tech. & Comm. Index closed at 1,226.37 points, down 0.43 points or 0.04 percent with 13.407 million shares.
BR Power Generation and Distribution Index lost 27.33 points or 0.42 percent to close at 6,417.98 points with 3.077 million shares.
Maaz Mulla at JS Global Capital said a lackluster session was witnessed at the local bourse, with the KSE-100 Index crawling up by 0.2 percent (up 88 points), to close at 43,829 level. Most of the dull activity can be attributed to political uncertainty and lack of positive triggers.
On the political front, ECP announces official results of 2018 Senate elections, where PML-N bagged 15 seats in the Senate election, emerging as majority.
Major contribution to the index came from HBL (up 1.32 percent), LUCK (up 1.31 percent), FCCL (up 3.85 percent) and BAHL (up 1.49 percent) contributing plus 97 points to the index. On the flipside, major laggards of the index were FFC (down 0.49 percent), MCB (down 0.77 percent), UBL (down 0.63 percent) and PPL (down 0.57 percent) contributing minus 44 points to the index.
Cement sector continued its upward rally as cement dispatches for eight months of FY18 recorded 14 percent growth on year-on-year basis, clocking in at 30.11 million tons; while February 2018 sales clocked in at 3.78 million tons, up 10 percent YoY, and down 7 percent on month-on-month. LUKC (up 1.31 percent), MLCF (up 2.27 percent) and FCCL (up 3.85 percent) were the major gainers of the mentioned sector.
