Pakistan Stock Exchange ended on positive note due to selective buying mainly by local investors. BRIndex100 gained 11.59 points or 0.36 percent to close at 3,204.86 points on Wednesday. During the session, the BRIndex-100 touched an intraday high of 3,263.10 and an intraday low of 3,193.27 points. Total volumes stood at 134.883 million shares.
BRIndex30 inched up by 35.77 points or 0.22 percent to close at 16,559.19 points with total turnover of 92.555 million shares. KSE-100 index increased by 52.86 points or 0.17 percent and closed at 30,637.71 points. Daily trading volumes on ready counter increased to 149.013 million shares as compared to 119.772 million shares traded on Tuesday.
The foreign investors however remained net sellers of shares worth $1.2 million. Total market capitalization increased by Rs 4 billion to Rs 6.229 trillion. Out of total 340 active scrips, 169 closed in negative and 151 in positive while the value of 20 stocks remained unchanged. K-Electric was the volume leader with 10.005 million shares however lost Rs 0.17 to close at Rs 3.38 followed by Maple Leaf that lost Rs 0.47 to close at Rs 19.13 with 8.433 million shares. Unilever Foods and Pak Tobacco were the top gainers increasing by Rs 266.00 and Rs 65.77 respectively to close at Rs 5586.00 and Rs 2347.42 while Nestle Pakistan and Colgate Palmolive were the top losers declining by Rs 309.00 and Rs 92.45 respectively to close at Rs 5873.00 and Rs 1756.55.
BR Automobile Assembler Index decreased by 44.84 points or 0.92 percent to close at 4,844.64 points with total turnover of 1.235 million shares. BR Cement Index lost 18.41 points or 0.65 percent to close at 2,806.72 points with 20.489 million shares. BR Commercial Banks Index gained 26.63 points or 0.36 percent to close at 7,348.06 points with 15.549 million shares.
BR Power Generation and Distribution Index decreased by 22.19 points or 0.52 percent to close at 4,286.09 points with 11.923 million shares. BR Oil and Gas Index inched up by 23.8 points or 0.72 percent to close at 3,321.83 points with 14.251 million shares. BR Tech. & Comm. Index closed at 659.31 points, down 0.84 points or 0.13 percent with 8.910 million shares.
Maaz Mulla at JS Global Capital said that the Pakistan equities closed on a flat note positive. The local bourse remained positive throughout the session but saw a brief negativity in the second half due to selling pressure. Mixed sentiment seen in the Financials where HBL (down 0.2 percent) closed negative while MCB (up 0.1 percent) and UBL (up 2.0 percent) closed positive. NBP (down 2.2 percent) reported 1HCY19 consolidated EPS of Rs 5.34/share against Rs 5.95/share in the same period last year with no cash payout. Moreover, MEBL (up 3.4 percent) also announced 1HCY19 consolidated EPS of Rs 5.45/share against Rs 3.22/share in the same period last year with a cash payout of Rs 1/share.
ENGRO (up 1.7 percent) was the major gainer in the Fertilizers sector. International oil prices gained on the back of drop in US inventories. In the E&Ps, PPL (up 1.0 percent) and POL (up 2.4 percent) were the major gainers in the aforementioned sector.