KARACHI: A late session buying spree in oversold blue-chip stocks helped the index close in the black on the second trading session of the week on Tuesday.
The Karachi Stock Exchange’s (KSE) benchmark 100-share index climbed 0.23% or 36.23 points to end at 15,688.24 points.
Investors took positions in leveraged blue-chip stocks in cement, textile and fertiliser sectors amid hopes of strong quarterly earnings outlook, said Ahsan Mehanti, analyst at Arif Habib Corporation.
Trade volumes fell to 110 million shares compared with Monday’s tally of 119 million shares.
Shares of 370 companies were traded. At the end of the day, 146 stocks closed higher, 153 declined and 71 remained unchanged. The value of shares traded during the day was Rs4.3 billion.
DG Khan Cement was the volume leader with 11 million shares gaining Rs2.21 to finish at Rs50.90. It was followed by Karachi Electric Supply Company with nine million shares gaining Rs0.09 to close at Rs5.47 and Nishat Mills with six million shares gaining Rs0.78 to close at Rs59.24.
Positive expectations over quarterly results of cement companies put the sector in the limelight, according to Topline Securities Equity Dealer Samar Iqbal.
According to a report issued by Topline Securities in September, a 26% jump in cement prices propelled profits of cement companies to Rs16 billion in financial year 2011-12, a whopping increase of roughly seven times.
Local sales of cement rose by 9% to 24 million tons, but total sales including exports stood higher by only 4% to 32.6 million tons. It was also reported that cement exports surged by 20.38% to 1.2 million tons worth $91.4 million in the first two months of fiscal year 2012-13, according to data released by the Pakistan Bureau of Statistics.
On the other hand, the fertiliser sector was seen on the weaker side due to an earlier Economic Coordination Committee (ECC) meeting, which pinpointed various local plants that were selling urea at higher prices than the government-set import price, said JS Global Capital analyst Mujtaba Barakzai.
Amongst banks, United Bank Limited was the outperformer on rumours of foreign inflows pouring in at various levels. UBL rose 2.6% with turnover of 1.3 million shares.
Foreign institutional investors were net buyers of Rs609 million worth of shares, according to data compiled by the National Clearing Company of Pakistan Limited.
Published in The Express Tribune, October 10th, 2012.
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