RECORDER REPORT

KARACHI: Pakistan Stock Exchange on Wednesday witnessed mixed trend and remained oscillating in both directions due to investor lack of interest in the absence of any trigger and continuous foreign selling.

The benchmark KSE-100 index hit 113,436.72 points intra-day high and 112,621.14 points intra-day low levels, before closing at 112,924.94 points, down 85.44 points or 0.08 percent.

Total daily trading volumes on ready counter increased to 669.597 million shares as compared to 486.935 million shares traded on Tuesday while total daily traded value on the ready counter declined to Rs 27.904 billion against previous session’s Rs 30.381 billion.

BRIndex100 gained 19.09 points or 0.16 percent to close at 11,960.38 points with total daily turnover of 601.888 million shares.

BRIndex30 increased by 254.04 points or 0.71 percent to close at 35,908.09 points with total daily trading volumes of 414.407 million shares.

The foreign investors also remained on the selling side and withdrew $1.554 million from the local equity market. Total market capitalization increased by Rs 9 billion to Rs 13.955 trillion. Out of total 441 active scrips, 211 closed in negative and 172 in positive while the value of 58 stocks remained unchanged.

Bank of Punjab was the volume leader with 195.542 million shares and increased by Rs 1.08 to close at Rs 11.91 followed by Bank Makramah that gained Re 0.32 to close at Rs 4.18 with 46.593 million shares. PTCL surged by Rs 2.09 to close at Rs 24.77 with 30.235 million shares.

Unilever Pakistan Foods and Rafhan Maize Products Company were the top gainers increasing by Rs 508.57 and Rs 93.25 respectively to close at Rs 23,923.99 and Rs 9,458.30 while Ismail Industries and Bata Pakistan were the top losers declining by Rs 47.81 and Rs 38.91 respectively to close at Rs 1,852.19 and Rs 1,861.27.

An analyst at Topline Securities said that the local bourse experienced a range-bound session, with the benchmark index oscillating between an intraday high of plus 426 points and a low of minus 389 points.

Investor sentiment remained mixed following the latest MSCI review, where ABOT and SEARL were included in the MSCI Frontier Market Index, while BFBIO, BIFO, and Power Cement were added to the MSCI Frontier Market Small Cap Index. However, the review fell short of market expectations, leading to subdued activity.

The uptick was largely driven from PPL, BOP, PTC, AKBL, and MLCF, which collectively contributed plus 202 points to the index and on the flipside HBL, HUBC, MTL, BAFL, MARI and NBP which collectively subtracted 220 points from the index.

BR Automobile Assembler Index gained 66.23 points or 0.3 percent to close at 21,826.69 points with total turnover of 17.440 million shares.

BR Cement Index lost 28.97 points or 0.25 percent to close at 11,348.87 points with 59.138 million shares.

BR Commercial Banks Index decreased by 65.08 points or 0.21 percent to close at 30,376.84 points with 262.483 million shares.

BR Power Generation and Distribution Index declined by 128.97 points or 0.69 percent to close at 18,433.62 points with 25.715 million shares.

BR Oil and Gas Index inched up by 58.7 points or 0.51 percent to close at 11,622.65 points with 48.047 million shares.

BR Tech & Comm Index added 46.16 points or 0.88 percent to close at 5,287.32 points with 71.068 million shares.

Ali Najib at Insight Securities said PSX had mixed day as the KSE-100 index observed diverse sentiments during the trading hours.

During the session, sector and stocks wise momentum got witnessed as investors opted to do some sectors and stocks switching in absence of any positive/negative trigger.

PPL, BOP, PTC, AKBL and EFERT saw buying interest as they added 201 points, collectively. On the other hand, ENGROH, FFC, HBL, BAFL and MTL witnessed profit taking as they lost 261, cumulatively.