Trade volumes rose to 344 million shares compared with Wednesday’s tally of 273 million. PHOTO: PPI/FILE
KARACHI: The index saw another listless day after it closed marginally in green but rebounded from 26,500, a level considered an important support by the chartists.
At close, the Karachi Stock Exchange’s (KSE) benchmark 100-share index edged up 0.05% or 12.01 points to end at 26,607.64.
“Taking cues from the region on Fed tapering, the index quickly moved in the negative zone after a positive soft start,” said Muhammad Raza Rawjani of Elixir Securities. “However, cautious optimism over peace talks initiated along with decent foreign portfolio inflows yesterday helped the index into the green.”
“On a day dominated by penny stocks, decent volumes were visible in energy names especially Pakistan State Oil (PSO PA +1.5%) on reports of a meeting between the industry and the finance minister being held to discuss margin increase.
“Likewise Pakistan Oilfields (POL PA +0.4%) closed in green on reports of commencement of Makori gas processing plant in early February which will increase company sales by 16%. Value buying was seen in Engro Corporation (ENGRO PA +0.6%) and DG Khan Cement (DGKC PA +0.6%) after correcting recently over 7.2%.”
According to Ovais Ahsan, the market remained in a subdued mode as a rout in regional markets weighed in on investor sentiment.
“Nestle (+1.68%) continued its fairytale run while associated companies IGI Insurance (+3.76%) and Packages (+5%) jumped on investors chasing the rocketing portfolio value of the two companies, which together own 17.6% of the FMCG giant,” Ahsan said.
“The sugar sector saw some trading activity on the back of first quarter results with most companies reporting losses during a seasonally weak time for the industry while companies with exposure to ethanol production like Mirupurkhas Sugar -0.21% recovered from day lows as prospects of greener bottom lines in the post GSP Plus scenario attracted savvy investors,” he concluded.
Trade volumes rose to 344 million shares compared with Wednesday’s tally of 273 million.
Shares of 407 companies were traded on Thursday. At the end of the day, 183 stocks closed higher, 204 declined while 20 remained unchanged. The value of shares traded during the day was Rs7.7 billion.
Bank of Punjab (R) was the volume leader with 68.8 million shares, gaining Rs1.00 to finish at Rs2.70. It was followed by Bank of Punjab with 55.1 million shares, gaining Rs0.97 to close at Rs12.67 and Azgard Nine with 28.4 million shares, gaining Rs0.36 to close at Rs10.26.
Foreign institutional investors were net sellers of Rs91 million, according to data maintained by the National Clearing Company of Pakistan Limited.
Published in The Express Tribune, January 31st, 2014.
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