Market watch: Index ends higher yet again as bullish run remains

Benchmark KSE 100-share index rises 145.13 points


Our Correspondent November 11, 2016
Benchmark KSE 100-share index ends at 42,703.99

KARACHI: Pakistan equities maintained their northbound ride, adding another 0.34% to the benchmark-100 index that shied away from the 43,000-point level.

After a rather slow start, institutional names grabbed attention as the KSE-100 Index settled at a fresh record high.

At close on Friday, the Pakistan Stock Exchange’s benchmark KSE 100-share index finished with a gain of 0.34% or 145.13 points to end at 42,849.12.

Elixir Securities, in its report, stated that market drifted lower for a brief period with index-heavy oils coming under pressure and denting the KSE-100 index owing to overnight dip in global crude.



“Index decline, however, was underscored by lower volumes in the wider market that resulted in market swiftly recovering with index names driving gains on selective institutional buying,” said analyst Ali Raza.

“Cement sector again stood as a top performer with notable names such as Lucky Cements (LUCK +3.2%), Maple Leaf Cement (MLCF +5%), DG Khan Cement (DGKC +1.8%) and Fauji Cement (FCCL +1.4%) closing higher and cumulatively contributing over 100 points to KSE-100 index,” he commented.

“Habib Bank (HBL +0.8%) remained strong for the third straight-day and closed at its all-time high, however, United Bank (UBL -0.4%) and MCB Bank (MCB -0.3%) settled marginally lower on profit-booking,” said Raza.

“Meanwhile, activity in sideboard plays remained upbeat with Pakistan International Airlines PIAA (+9.6%) topping the volumes chart on renewed talks of national carrier’s restructuring and planned expansion of its fleet.

“We see ongoing momentum to continue with KSE-100 index testing news highs over 43,000, however, volatility will likely be higher from here onwards with domestic politics coming back in play as court hearing of PM Nawaz Sharif’s family is due early next week,” he added.



Meanwhile, JS Global analyst Nabeel Haroon said the index traded between an intraday high of 245 points and intraday low of 206 points to finally close at 42,849.

“The cement sector extended its gain to close (2.9%) higher,” said Haroon.

“OGDC (-0.21%) and POL (-0.49%) in the exploration and production sector lost value to close in the red zone as crude oil prices fell to trade around $44/bl level as doubts remain over production cut agreement by OPEC members in their next meeting in Algiers,” he remarked.

“Moving forward, we reiterate our cautious stance on the market at current levels,” he added.

Trade volumes fell to 542 million shares compared with Thursday’s tally of 560 million.

Shares of 434 companies were traded. At the end of the day, 206 stocks closed higher, 214 declined while 14 remained unchanged. The value of shares traded during the day was Rs17.8 billion.

PIAC (A) was the volume leader with 59.8 million shares, gaining Rs1.00 to finish at Rs11.44. It was followed by Bank of Punjab with 53.3 million shares, losing Rs0.54 to close at Rs19.59 and TRG Pakistan Limited with 27.8 million shares, gaining Rs0.40 to close at Rs45.20.

Foreign institutional investors were net sellers of Rs404 million during the trading session, according to data maintained by the National Clearing Company of Pakistan Limited.

Published in The Express Tribune, November 12th, 2016.

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