BRIndex30 increased by 121.43 points or 0.54 percent to close at 22,478.43 points with a turnover of 166.876 million shares. The benchmark KSE-100 index surged by 57.40 points to 41,544.27 points. Trading activity further improved as daily volumes on the ready counter increased to 233.607 million shares as compared to 229.369 million shares traded Tuesday.
Foreign investors remained net buyers of shares worth $5.9 million. Out of total 372 active scrips, 185 closed in negative, 167 in positive while the value of 20 stocks remained unchanged. K-Electric was the volume leader with 47.374 million shares. It gained Re 0.26 to close at Rs 6.75 followed by Bank of Punjab that increased by Re 0.30 to close at Rs 8.89 with 13.395 million shares.
Wyeth Pak and Sanofi-Aventis were the top gainers with Rs 65.53 and Rs 61.33, respectively to Rs 1,376.17 and Rs 1,359.00. Nestle Pakistan and Philip Morris Pak were the top losers with Rs 573.89 and Rs 160.00, respectively to close at Rs 10,926.11 and Rs 3,040.00.
BR Commercial Banks gained 18.25 points or 0.22 percent to close at 8,374.08 points with total turnover of 23.811 million shares. BR Cement Index closed at 5,316.59 points, up 1.61 points or 0.03 percent with 25.002 million shares. BR Oil and Gas Index increased by 62.54 points or 1.22 percent to close at 5,171.92 points with 19.292 million shares.
BR Tech. & Comm. Index lost 19.87 points or 1.83 percent to close at 1,063.82 points with 25.364 million shares.
BR Power Generation and Distribution Index surged by 126.88 points or 2.01 percent to close at 6,449.20 points with 50.414 million shares. An analyst at Arif Habib Limited said that the KSE-100 index saw active trading session with local funds and foreign investors making their presence felt. Post December closing, institutional investors who had high cash positions have started increasing their equity positions, especially in Cement, Banks and Fertilizer sectors which is aided by low valuations, inflationary expectations and volumetric increase respectively.
Oil & Gas, Power, Food & Personal Care were the major contributors. Scrips that contributed positively include OGDC (up 32 points), PPL (up 30 points), POL (up 19 points), KEL (up 15 points) and SNGP (up 14 points). Stocks that contributed negatively include NESTLE (down 27 points), HBL (down 24 points), KTML (down 11 points), PMPK (down 10 points) and ABOT (down 9 points).