Market watch: Sparked with interest, index soars past 32,000

Benchmark KSE-100 index rises 373.68 points


Our Correspondent March 04, 2016
Benchmark KSE-100 index rises 373.68 points.

KARACHI: The benchmark-100 index easily powered past the 32,000-point mark to end positive for the seventh successive session.

News of a foreign firm expressing its intention to acquire a majority stake in Engro Foods - a subsidiary of local conglomerate Engro Corp - helped the benchmark-100 index early on with financial, cement and fertiliser stocks aiding the bullish run on the back of institutional buying.

At close on Thursday, the Pakistan Stock Exchange’s KSE-100 index rose 1.18% or 373.68 points to end at 32,146.58.



Elixir Securities analyst Faisal Bilwani said equities soared and continued their strong run with benchmark KSE100 index settling comfortably above 32k.

“Engro Corp (Engro, +5%) and Engro Foods (EFOODS, +5%) gained from the word go to hit upper price limit as company announced receiving an acquisition interest from the Netherlands-based food company FrieslandCampina ,” said Bilwani.

“Following Engro twins, wider market staged a strong run with financials, cements and fertiliser leading the gains on institutional buying, while small and mid-caps also traded higher on excitement from retail investors.”

Meanwhile, Topline Securities, in its report, stated the index continued its upward trend which was led primarily by stocks in banking sector.

“Interest of institutional investors in banking sector stocks resulted in the scrips increasing in trading. MCB Bank (MCB), Habib Bank (HBL) and United Bank (UBL) increased 1.7-3.0% on Thursday.

Trade volumes fell to 139 million shares compared with Wednesday’s tally of 160 million.

Shares of 351 companies were traded. At the end of the day, 153 stocks closed higher, 173 declined while 25 remained unchanged. The value of shares traded during the day was Rs9.2 billion.



Pak Elektron was the volume leader with 7.2 million shares, gaining Rs0.37 to finish at Rs58.97. It was followed by Dewan Cement with 5.3 million shares, losing Rs0.18 to close at Rs11.08 and Engro Crop with 5.2 million shares, gaining Rs14.12 to close at Rs296.56.

Foreign institutional investors were net sellers of Rs118 million during the trading session, according to data maintained by the National Clearing Company of Pakistan Limited.

Published in The Express Tribune, March 4th, 2016.

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