PSX: KSE 100 gains as stocks rally despite coronavirus concerns in Pakistan

Pakistan Stock Market closed on a positive as a rally in oil stocks balanced the sell-off in other sectors to close the KSE 100 over 41,000 on Wednesday.

However, optimism seemed to be fading for a sustained positive trend. 

"The rally, which started with the news of coronavirus vaccine seems to be fading away," Associate Director KASB Securities Muhammad Faizan Munshey said in a note.

According to Munshey, investors are being cautious about rising coronavirus cases in the country and challenges regarding the distribution and approval of the Pfizer and BioNTech vaccine.

"We expect the market to stay range-bound for the rest of the week in the absence of any major market-moving triggers," Munshey added.

The benchmark KSE 100 index added 44.27 points, or 0.11%, by the close of the trading session to reach 41,197 points.

Close to 129.68 million shares changed hands, with a total worth of nearly Rs6.62 billion.

Stocks of 373 companies were traded, of which 125 gained in value, 226 declined and 22 remained unchanged.

Volumes were led by BankIslami Pakistan Limited (BIPL), with 31.51 million shares traded. TRG Pakistan Limited (TRG), K-Electric Limited (KEL), Al Shaheer Corporation Limited (ASC), and Power Cement Limited (POWER) closed out the top five symbols traded, with volumes of 25m, 16.4m, 15m, and 13.5m, respectively.

BIPL was up 9.70%, trading at Rs10.74; TRG was up 2.85%, trading at Rs55.94; KEL was down 3.25%, trading at Rs3.57; ASC was up 1.96%, trading at Rs20.81; while POWER was down 1.73%, trading at Rs10.22.