BRIndex30 increased by 350.15 points or 1.68 percent to close at 21,176.70 points with a turnover of 102.656 million shares. The KSE-100 index surged by 361.92 points or 0.94 percent to close at 39,054.61 points. Daily trading volumes stood at 159.385 million shares as compared to 273.685 million shares traded Wednesday.
Foreign investors remained net buyers of shares worth $0.2 million. The market capitalization increased by Rs 70 billion to Rs 7.817 trillion. Out of total 364 active scrips, 256 closed in positive, only 84 in negative while the value of 24 stocks remained unchanged.
Bank of Punjab was the volume leader with 13.369 million shares. It gained Re 0.45 to close at Rs 12.69 followed by WorldCall Telecom that inched up by Re 0.04 to close at Rs 1.40 with 9.808 million shares. Bata Pak and Pak Tobacco were the top gainers with Rs 68.00 and Rs 65.92, respectively to close at Rs 1,599.00 and Rs 2,582.00. Nestle Pakistan and Indus Dyeing were the top losers with Rs 300.00 and Rs 25.00, respectively to close at Rs 8,200.00 and Rs 475.00.
BR Commercial Banks Index increased by 79.24 points or 0.95 percent to close at 8,418.99 points with a turnover of 24.186 million shares. BR Cement Index closed at 4,187.01 points, up 52.74 points or 1.28 percent with 16.589 million shares.
BR Oil and Gas Index gained 25.49 points or 0.53 percent to close at 4,839.37 points with 11.744 million shares. BR Tech. & Comm. Index inched up by 29.51 points or 3.13 percent to close at 972.39 points with 17.927 million shares. BR Power Generation and Distribution Index surged by 73.01 points or 1.24 percent to close at 5,956.58 points with 11.048 million shares.
An analyst at Arif Habib Limited said that the market opened on a positive note and leaped by 123 points at the opening. During the session, the index increased by 456 points, however, later the investors showed concern due to tensions on the border, which resulted in a decline of 134 points. Market recovered back in the last trading hours that resulted in an adjusted closing of plus 362 points.
Sectors contributing to the performance include Banks (up 63 points), Autos (up 37 points), Pharma (up 35 points), Tobacco (up 33 points), Miscellaneous (up 29 points).
Stocks that contributed positively include DAWH (up 36 points), PAKT (up 33 points), OGDC (up 29 points), PSEL (up 23 points) and MEBL (up 19 points). Stocks that contributed negatively include MCB (down 19 points), NESTLE (down 14 points), PPL (down 12 points), ENGRO (down 11 points) and EFERT (down 11 points).