Market watch: Engro leads the charge, after Monday’s drop

Support from earnings announcement helps index gain 42 points.


Our Correspondent April 23, 2013
KSE benchmark 100-share index gained 0.22% or 41.74 points to end at 18,647.29 point level.

KARACHI: After Monday’s battering, Engro Corporation led the charge after positive rumours emerged for the company’s fertiliser division, helping the bourse closing in the black with support from earnings announcements from blue chips on Tuesday. 

United Bank, Kot Addu Power Company and Pakistan State Oil were among the companies that announced strong results. Engro rose 4.91% to Rs136.99.

The Karachi Stock Exchange’s (KSE) benchmark 100-share index gained 0.22% or 41.74 points to end at 18,647.29 point level. Trade volumes picked up, clocking in at 172 million shares compared with Monday’s tally of 134 million shares.

Engro traded under pressure throughout the day, but reported institutional buying in the final few minutes of the trading session pushed it to upper lock, reported Faisal Bilwani, analyst at Elixir Securities.

Rumours regarding resumption of gas to supply to its fertiliser plant tossed Engro into volume leaders. Recall that on Monday, Engro hit its lower lock when rumours surrounded the company that the gas supply allocated to its fertiliser division will be diverted to the power sector.

However, major activity was witnessed in mid capitalised stocks, where TRG Pakistan saw 45 million shares exchanging hands followed by Byco Petroleum – after its new refinery commenced full operations – and Wateen Telecom, said Samar Iqbal, analyst at Topline Securities.

Shares of 366 companies were traded on Tuesday. At the end of the day 204 stocks closed higher, 114 declined while 48 remained unchanged. The value of shares traded during the day was Rs4.93 billion.

The oil marketing giant Pakistan State Oil announced earnings per share of Rs37.72 for the first nine months of fiscal 2013, failing to extend the initial rally and closing marginally down 0.2%.

Interim payout announcement by United Bank of Rs2 per share accompanied with its quarterly results of Rs3.23 per share also failed to excite investors, whereas Kapco announced strong earnings per share of Rs4.95, up 30% year-on-year, in the first nine months of fiscal 2013.

TRG Pakistan was the volume leader with 44.95 million shares gaining Rs0.97 to finish at Rs9.61. It was followed by Byco Petroleum with 14.06 million shares gaining Rs0.7 to close at Rs11.05 and Wateen Telecom with 13.99 million shares climbing Rs0.35 to close at Rs4.68.

Foreign institutional investors were buyers of Rs159.43 million and sellers of Rs188.24 million, according to data maintained by the National Clearing Company of Pakistan.

Published in The Express Tribune, April 24th, 2013.

Like Business on Facebook to stay informed and join in the conversation.

COMMENTS (1)

BrandSynario | 10 years ago | Reply

TRG seems to be doing really well. That's the potential of our Software Industry, We hope many International Software Companies setup their offices here in Pakistan and create a win-win situation.

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