Market watch: Index ends in black as oil steadies

Benchmark KSE-100 index rises 179.86 points.

KARACHI: The index’s giant run continued as it recorded a peak of 33,941 points intra-day with slight recovery in global crude prices helping attract interest. It experienced a dip towards the end but still managed to finish in the black. 

At close, the Karachi Stock Exchange (KSE) benchmark 100-share index rose 0.54% or 179.86 points to end at 33,765.61.

“Late profit-taking adjusted the index to close at 33,766 as investors adopted a cautious stance ahead of the PTI deadline to restart country wide protest,” said Muhammad Zain of Elixir Securities.

“Financials continued to gather buying interest ahead of a calendar year close led by United Bank Limited (UBL PA +2.39%) and National Bank Limited (NBP PA +1%) while Engro Corporation (ENGRO PA +1.22%) continued to fruit benefits of Wednesday’s momentum over Engro Fertilizer (EFERT PA -1.19%) sell off.

“We expect the market to foresee resistance above 34k as investors will likely track political development post weekend,” Zain added.

Meanwhile, JS Global analyst Muhammad Mobeen said the star performance credit was taken by Avanceon (+5%), as the engineering solution company hit its upper lock.



“We suggest investors to gravitate their attention towards this stock as it provides a good opportunity to avail capital gains on the back of earnings growth as well as dividends due to a high payout ratio.

“The cement sector is primarily undergoing correction and dips should be availed to build fresh positions. Going forward, our favoured sector would be the banking sector with Bank Al Habib, United Bank and Allied Bank being our top pick,” Mobeen added.

Trade volumes rose to 399 million shares compared to 383 million on Wednesday.

Shares of 418 companies were traded on Thursday. Of these, 158 companies declined, 246 closed higher and 14 remained unchanged. The value of shares traded during the day was Rs17.8 billion.



Pakistan International Airlines was the volume leader with 32.3 million shares, gaining Rs1.00 to close at Rs9.43. It was followed by Jahangir Siddiqui and Company with 25.3 million shares, gaining Rs0.57 to close at Rs17.4 and TRG Pakistan Limited with 22.5 million shares, losing Rs0.47 to close at Rs16.74.

Foreign institutional investors were net buyers of Rs9 million worth of shares during the trading session, according to data compiled by the National Clearing Company of Pakistan Limited.

Published in The Express Tribune, January 16^th, 2015.

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