Market watch: Bourse ends flat after gaining 100 points

KSE’s benchmark 100-share index crawls up 8 points.


Express October 25, 2011

KARACHI: The stock market closed flat on Tuesday after gaining over 100 points in early trade.

The Karachi Stock Exchange’s (KSE) benchmark 100-share index fell marginally by 0.07 per cent or 7.96 points to end at 11,517.29 point level.

Selling was witnessed in the trading session investors preferred to book profit at higher levels, said Samar Iqbal Equity Dealer Topline Securities.

Foreign institutional investors were highly active as they were buyers of Rs1.7 billion and sellers of Rs2.08 billion worth of shares during the trading session, according to data maintained by the National Clearing Company of Pakistan Limited.

Oil stocks invited some fresh buying after Pakistan Petroleum Limited (PPL) announced better than expected earnings. PPL closed the day up 1.2%, followed by Pakistan Oilfields and Oil and Gas Development Company gaining 0.5% & 1.0%, respectively.

Among banks, MCB Bank posted healthy earnings of Rs18.55 per share along with a dividend of Rs3/share, which helped the stock gain 1.2%.

Engro Corporation plummeted 4.4% on market reports that the company’s old plant faces technical issues and is likely to remain shut for the next few days.

Trade volumes fell to paltry level of 69 million shares compared with Friday’s tally of 82 million shares.

Nishat Mills dropped 5%, its lower limit of the day, ahead of earnings announcement Wednesday (today) as Nishat Power did not announce a payout along with its result.

Shares of 333 companies were traded on Tuesday. At the end of the day 106 stocks closed higher, 128 declined while 99 remained unchanged. The value of shares traded during the day was Rs3.39 billion.

Fatima Fertilizer was the volume leader with 10.01 million shares gaining Rs0.58 to finish at Rs24.65. It was followed by Fauji Fertilizer Bin Qasim with 6.95 million shares declining Rs0.07 to close at Rs62.28 and Lotte Pakistan PTA with 5.9 million shares losing Rs0.15 to close at Rs11.96.

Published in The Express Tribune, October 26th, 2011.

COMMENTS

Replying to X

Comments are moderated and generally will be posted if they are on-topic and not abusive.

For more information, please see our Comments FAQ