The benchmark KSE-100 index surged by 816.41 points or 1.91 percent to 43,630.75 points. Trading activity also improved significantly as daily volumes on the ready counter increased to 327.761 million shares as compared to 225.340 million shares traded Tuesday. Foreign investors remained net buyers of shares worth $0.4 million. The market capitalization increased by Rs 125 billion to Rs 9.045 trillion. Out of total 400 active stocks, 316 closed in positive, only 65 in negative while the value of 19 stocks remained unchanged.
Aisha Steel Mill was the volume leader with 16.916 million shares. It gained Re 1.00 to close at Rs 20.77 followed by TRG Pak that increased by Rs 1.53 to close at Rs 32.31 with 16.720 million shares. Wyeth Pak and Bata Pak were the top gainers with Rs 83.63 and Rs 70.00, respectively to close at Rs 1,756.35 and Rs 2,520.00. Shield Corp and Otsuka Pak were the top losers with Rs 24.91 and Rs 13.04, respectively to close at Rs 475.00 and Rs 286.46.
BR Commercial Banks Index surged by 161.46 points or 1.87 percent to close at 8,811.00 points with total turnover of 34.436 million shares. BR Cement Index increased by 137.47 points or 2.49 percent to close at 5,649.15 points with 43.472 million shares. BR Oil and Gas Index gained 63.29 points or 1.21 percent to close at 5,301.34 points with 27.109 million shares.
BR Tech. & Comm. Index closed at 1,168.53 points, up 31.46 points or 2.77 percent with 32.286 million shares. BR Power Generation and Distribution Index inched up by 121.04 points or 1.88 percent to close at 6,567.03 points with 10.198 million shares.
An analyst at Arif Habib Limited said that the KSE-100 index took a surprise jump of 845 points that motivated investors far and wide to actively invest in scrips of their choice. Activity was again seen in commercial banks, which took some correction on Tuesday. Volumes also showed the same buoyancy and after a long time surpassed 300 million mark.
Key sectors contributing to this upsurge were Commercial Banks (up 227 points) and Fertilizer (up 105 points), although Cement and Oil & Gas also contributed to the increase. Scrips that contributed positively include HBL (up 70 points), ENGRO (up 52 points), UBL (up 48 points), MCB (up 42 points) and LUCK (up 36 points). Stocks that contributed negatively include NML (down 3 points), MUREB (down 1.0 points), NATF (down 1.0 points), ABOT (down 1.0 points) and SCBPL (down 1.0 points).