“Pakistan equities notched up further today and closed above 23,200 mainly driven by index heavy oil stocks on reported foreigner’s buying," says an analyst at Elixir Securities. PHOTO: REUTERS/FILE
KARACHI: The stock market ended in the green the third day in a row on positive sentiments during the week.
The Karachi Stock Exchange’s (KSE) benchmark 100-share index rose 1.04% or 239.51 points to end at 23,231.68 points.
Today’s session kicked off with mixed sentiments as investors preferred to book profits in the cement sector.” Said Adeel Jafri of JS Global.
“Volumes remained low during most of the day and the index swung between positive and negative zone. However, KSE-100 closed up by 1% to close above the psychological level of 23,000 points.” He added.
“Pakistan equities notched up further today and closed above 23,200 mainly driven by index heavy oil stocks on reported foreigner’s buying. Volumes in the broader market were higher than expected on better retail participation primarily in small caps while banks; MCB Bank (MCB PA +1.8%) and National Bank (NBP PA +1%) were able to register firm gains,” said Jawad Aboobakar of Elixir Securities.
“Pakistan Petroleum PPL (PA +3.9%) was a major gainer today on reported foreign interest along with Pakistan Oil Fields POL (PA +0.6%). Cements continue to remain in the limelight with Kohat Cement (KOHC PA +5%) closing at its upper price limit and Lucky Cement (LUCK PA +3.5%) as investors expect significant growth in earnings and are betting on a record payout going forward. However, DG Khan Cement (DGKC PA -1.2%) traded lower on fear of a possible rights issue.” He added.
Trade volumes stayed relatively stable at 269 million shares compared with Tuesday’s tally of 265 million shares.
Shares of 359 companies were traded on Wednesday. At the end of the day 219 stocks closed higher, 99 declined while 44 remained unchanged. The value of shares traded during the day was Rs10 billion.
Pakistan International Airlines was the volume leader with 20.5 million shares gaining Rs0.23 to finish at Rs7.99. It was followed by Fauji Cement with 16 million shares losing Rs0.13 to close at Rs14.05 and PTCL with 11.7 million shares gaining Rs0.94 to close at Rs27.98.
Foreign institutional investors were net buyers of Rs64 million, according to data maintained by the National Clearing Company of Pakistan Limited.
Published in The Express Tribune, September 12th, 2013.
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