As the quarter-end results season enters force, investor participation was markedly higher in the Karachi bourse on Thursday. The bourse closed in the green territory, with active buying and selling in scrips across the board as punters placed their bets on companies’ performance.
“Stocks closed higher in the quarter-end earning announcements session as investors accumulated oversold stocks in the cement, telecom and textile sectors,” said Arif Habib Corp analyst Ahsan Mehanti. “A record earnings announcement by Attock Refinery, higher global stocks and commodities, and institutional speculation in selected blue-chip stocks ahead of earnings announcements also affected sentiments,” he said.
The Karachi Stock Exchange’s (KSE) benchmark 100-share index edged up 0.16% or 24.57 points to end at the 15,679.19 points level. Trade volumes swelled to 135 million shares, compared with Wednesday’s tally of 91 million shares. The value of shares traded during the day was Rs4.05 billion.
“The KSE-100 index started the day with positive sentiment and made the intraday high at the 15,754 level. However, profit-taking in the second half took its toll and the index closed marginally up by 0.2%,” said JS Global analyst Shakir Padela.
“Star performers of the day were cement scrips, with Lucky Cement and DG Khan Cement both gaining 3.8% and 3.4% respectively. Cherat Cement also announced its quarterly result, which was above expectations, and ended the day on its upper circuit,” reported Padela. “There was selling pressure in the oil sector due to Pakistan Oilfield’s disappointing quarterly result, and the scrip ended the day down by 0.9%. Engro Foods also disclosed its quarterly result, which was in line with analyst expectations.”
Shares of 363 companies were traded on Thursday. At the end of the day 176 stocks closed higher, 137 declined while 50 remained unchanged. Maple Leaf Cement was the volume leader with 24.02 million shares gaining Rs0.14 to finish at Rs9.35. It was followed by Fauji Cement with 13.60 million shares gaining Rs0.01 to close at Rs6.34 and Pakistan Telecommunication Company with 9.50 million shares gaining Rs0.45 to close at Rs19.11.
Foreign institutional investors were net buyers of Rs147.58 million, according to data maintained by the National Clearing Company of Pakistan Limited.
Published in The Express Tribune, October 19th, 2012.
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today i saw good volume :)