Market watch: Index rises on positive sentiment, stable monetary policy

Benchmark KSE-100 index increases 104 points.

KARACHI: Backed by favourable macro-economic data and news of the monetary policy remaining stable, the stock market managed to close positive again. The surge was mostly led by the financial sector and third-tier stocks.

The Karachi Stock Exchange’s (KSE) benchmark 100-share index rose 0.39% or 104.63 points to end at 27,229.10.

“Favorable trade deficit data and strong rupee dollar parity impacted sentiment despite uncertainty in global stocks and commodities following Ukraine vote favoring Russia” said Ahsan Mehanti of Arif Habib Corp.



“With monetary rates remaining unchanged over the weekend, Pakistan equities took off on a positive note with financials attracting buying interest for obvious reasons, led by MCB Bank (MCB PA +3.5%), Bank Alfalah (BAFL PA +1.4%), United Bank (UBL PA +1.2%) and Askari Bank (AKBL PA +5.2%),” said Harris Ahmed Batla of Elixir Securities.

“Meanwhile, highly-geared cement plays witnessed profit-taking to the likes of Maple Leaf Cement (MLCF -1.6%) and DG Khan Cement (DGKC PA -0.3%) closing near to flat. News of India lifting a ban on Pakistani exports revived interest in the textile sector namely Nishat Mills (NML PA +1.5%) that had come under the hammer past week due to the appreciation of Pakistani rupee against the greenback,” Batla added.

Trade volumes fell to 209 million shares compared with Friday’s tally of 267 million.

Shares of 376 companies were traded on Monday. At the end of the day, 178 stocks closed higher, 178 declined while 20 remained unchanged. The value of shares traded during the day was Rs7.5 billion.



TRG Pakistan was the volume leader with 26.8 million shares losing Rs0.95 to finish at Rs14.1. It was followed by Sui Southern Gas Company with 16.87 million shares gaining Rs1 to close at Rs27.07 and Lafarge Pakistan with 14.69 million shares gaining Rs0.05 to close at Rs11.3.

Foreign institutional investors were net buyers of Rs21 million, according to data maintained by the National Clearing Company of Pakistan Limited.

Published in The Express Tribune, March 18^th, 2014.

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