Trading activity however remained slightly low as the volumes on the ready counter decreased to 376.687 million shares as compared to 387.301 million shares traded Friday. The market capitalisation increased by Rs 89 billion to Rs 9.717 trillion. Out of total 423 active scrips, 258 closed in positive, 145 in negative while the value of 20 stocks remained unchanged.
K-Electric was the volume leader with 43.806 million shares. It gained Rs 0.15 to close at Rs 9.52 followed by Dost Steels that increased by Rs 1.00 to close at Rs 13.12 with 31.523 million shares. Summit Bank surged by Rs 0.53 to close at Rs 4.93 with 23.101 million shares.
Wyeth Pak and Nestle Pakistan were the top gainers with Rs 183.50 and Rs 137.50, respectively to close at Rs 4,905.25 and Rs 9,137.50. Rafhan Maize and Bhanero Textile were the top losers with Rs 264.37 and Rs 30.00, respectively to close at Rs 8,499.99 and Rs 760.00.
An analyst at Global Securities said that the local bourse surged phenomenally by 433 points, breaking another psychological barrier of 48,000 points on the first day of the year, closing at an all time high of 48,240 points. Major support towards the index came from heavyweight blue chips including HBL (+3.09 percent), ENGRO (+2.79 percent), UBL (+1.96 percent) and MCB (+1.86 percent), all of which cumulatively contributed 279 points towards the index, likely supported by foreign buying. However, LUCK (-1.60 percent), POL (-1.47 percent), BAHL (-1.63 percent) and PKGS (-2.2 percent) remained the major laggards to drag index down by 76 points. EFOODS (+4.51 percent) closed near its upper circuit as investors are likely betting on improvement in company performance after acquisition by Friesland Campina. BWCL (+5.00 percent) also closed at its upper circuit as company shared its intention to acquire one of the plant of Dewan Cement.
An analyst at JS Global Capital said that positivity prevailed in the market on the first trading session of 2017, as the index rallied to close at its new high level. Banking sector led the gains in the market despite decline in CPI number, as it clocked in at 3.7 percent for the month of December 2016.
Copyright Business Recorder, 2017