KARACHI: After witnessing a long losing spree, the Pakistan Stock Exchange Friday bounced back and crossed the psychological barrier of 48,000 at closing as the benchmark 100-index gained 206.60 points in the last session to take the tally to 48155.93 points level.
The stocks recorded the highest trading level of 48210.74 points and lowest level of 47678.83 points, with the volume of over 273.52 million shares and value of Rs11.81 billion. As many as 361 companies were active; of which 208 advanced, 138 declined and 15 remained unchanged.
BoP was the volume leader with 41.91 million shares, losing Rs 0.61 to finish at Rs 14.44. It was followed by Azgard Nine with 24.27 million shares, gaining Rs 0.26 to end at Rs 13.36 and K-Electric with 20.95 million shares, shedding Rs 0.03 to close at Rs 8.18.
The top three gainers were Bata (Pak) with price per share of 4390 (190), Unilever Foods with price per share of 6200 (100) and Nestle Pakistan share of 9095 (95).
The top three losers were Wyeth Pak Ltd with price per share of 2418.45 (-127.28), Colgate Palmolive with price per share of 2060 (-105) and Hinopak Motor per share of 1600 (-35).
Earlier, the stocks opened bearish as benchmark 100-index shed 115 points to drop to 47835 points level in early trading. The PSX remained bearish till midday and lost another 128 points to reach 47821 points level.
On Thursday, the PSX benchmark shares index traded between an intraday high of 129 points and intraday low of 555 points, finally closing at 47,949 levels, losing 426 points or (0.88 percent).
BOP closed negative as the bank announced its 2016 result. In its result, the company posted EPS of Rs3.13/share and announced 70 percent Right shares at a premium of Rs2 per share. POL (slip 1.32%) and PPL (0.50%) closed in the red in the E&P sector as crude prices reversed course and declined. Volumes stood low at 241 million shares versus 272 million shares traded yesterday. Top volume leaders of the bourse were ANL (up7.3%), JSCL (4.6%) and BOP (slip 6.2%). Stocks of 386 companies in all were traded, of which 84 gained in value, 285 declined and 17 remained unchanged.