Benchmark
KSE-100 index rises 227.24 points.
KARACHI: The stock market ended in the black for the 11th consecutive session on Monday.
At the day’s start, the index jumped up a massive 325 points in anticipation of banking results and sustained the level during much of the trading session. However, it recorded a 100-point drop in the last 100 minutes.
The Pakistan Stock Exchange’s benchmark KSE-100 index rose 0.70% or 227.24 points to end at 32,706.22.
Elixir Securities, in its report, stated that equities started the week on a positive note with the benchmark KSE-100 index rising for the 11th straight session.
“Stocks opened up in early trade led primarily by gains in financial stocks ahead of their annual result announcements. The trio of top three index-heavy banks namely Habib Bank (+2.12%), MCB Bank (+2.38%) and United Bank (+1.63%) closed higher and contributed more than 50% to the benchmark index gains.”
Fertiliser shares, on the other hand, traded lower in the backdrop of urea price concerns with Engro Fertilizers (-0.05%) closing in the red despite announcing higher payout and earnings that beat estimates. It succumbed to the selling pressure and ended the day on a flat note.
According to JS Global analyst Ahmed Saeed Khan, the rally in the commercial banking sector continued on Monday, which led the market’s bullish sentiment with UBL, HBL and MCB Bank recording significant gains.
“Intraday drop in global crude oil prices put some pressure on the sector; star performer of the day was Pakistan Oilfields Limited (+1.70%) that rallied on the back of expectation of better-than-previous earnings, which will be announced on Wednesday.”
Besides the pressure from declining international urea prices and decreased di-ammonium phosphate sales for December, Engro Fertilizers’ full-year result showed earnings per share (EPS) of Rs11.13 and dividend per share of Rs3 in line with market expectations.
Trade volumes slightly rose to 152 million shares compared with Thursday’s tally of 151 million.
Shares of 344 companies were traded. At the end of the day, 170 stocks closed higher, 152 declined while 22 remained unchanged. The value of shares traded during the day was Rs8.7 billion.
Engro Fertilizers was the volume leader with 9.4 million shares losing Rs0.04 to finish at Rs81.11. It was followed by TRG Pakistan with 7.2 million shares gaining Rs0.25 to close at Rs27.87 and Pace (Pak) Limited with 6.9 million shares gaining Rs0.13 to close at Rs6.72.
Foreign institutional investors were net sellers of Rs348 million during the trading session, according to data maintained by the National Clearing Company of Pakistan Limited.
Published in The Express Tribune, February 9th, 2016.
Like Business on Facebook, follow @TribuneBiz on Twitter to stay informed and join in the conversation.
COMMENTS
Comments are moderated and generally will be posted if they are on-topic and not abusive.
For more information, please see our Comments FAQ