The Pakistan Stock Exchange ended trading on a positive note on Friday. The benchmark KSE-100 index closed at 177,696.51 points after gaining 373.73 points.
The KSE-100 index had closed at 177,322.78 points in the previous trading session. On Friday, the index opened at 177,575.22 points and reached a high of 178,042.78 points during the session. Its low was 177,165.27 points.
The index recorded a gain of 0.21 percent. However, the overall market remained mixed. Shares of 494 companies were traded in the ready market. Of these, 202 companies increased their shares while 257 declined. Shares of 35 companies remained unchanged.
A total of 658.33 million shares were traded in the market. Their value was Rs 31.45 billion. Compared to the previous session, the trading volume of shares increased, but the total trading value was lower.
The total investment value of the market increased by about Rs 25 billion to Rs 19.885 trillion. A day earlier, the market capitalization was Rs 19.860 trillion.
The purchase of large companies played a major role in the rise of KSE-100. Systems Limited gave the index the most support of 262.48 points. Bank of Punjab contributed 118.44, Habib Bank 97.02, Meezan Bank 78.74 while Interloop contributed 37.13 points positively.
On the other hand, Service Industries had the most negative impact of 73.46 points on the index. Pakistan Oilfields, United Bank, Engro Fertilizer and Sazgar Engineering were also among the prominent stocks that kept the index under pressure.
In sectoral performance, commercial banking and technology sectors supported the market the most. The commercial banking sector contributed 318.77 points to the KSE-100, while the technology and communication sector contributed 259.58 points.
On the other hand, selling pressure was seen in some sectors. Weakness in shares of leather and tanneries, cement, fertilizer and oil and gas marketing companies limited the overall rally in the index.
Business data shows that despite the rally in the index on Friday, there was no widespread buying in the market. The performance of large companies, especially banking and technology sectors, played a major role in keeping the KSE-100 at a positive level.
