Market watch: Index closes at record high buoyed by institutional buying

Benchmark KSE 100-share Index gains 287.64 points on Wednesday

KARACHI: Pakistan equities closed at a fresh all-time high of 39,435 with the benchmark up 0.73% Wednesday, helped by excitement over earnings and reported institutional buying in select index names.

At close, the Pakistan Stock Exchange’s (PSX) benchmark KSE 100-share Index recorded an increase of 287.64 points (0.73%) to end at 39,434.97.

Elixir Securities stated the index gained steadily with financials and cements leading on institutional interest and ahead of their earnings announcements with Habib Bank (HBL) contributing 87 points. Renewed interest was seen in financials, primarily driven by United Bank (UBL PA +2%) first half earnings announcement.



“Lucky Cement (LUCK PA 2.5%) and DG Khan (DGKC PA 1.1%) traded up on interest ahead of 2Q earnings with investors bullish on domestic demand going forward, emanating from infrastructure projects,” said analyst Faisal Bilwani.

“Meanwhile, Fauji Fertilizers (FFC PA +0.5%) eke out small gains after announcing earnings and pay-out that significantly beat market estimates,” Bilwani added.

JS Global analyst Nabeel Haroon said the market continued its positive momentum.

“FFC (0.51%) gained to close in the green zone as the company announced its 1H2016 result, which was better than the market expectation,” said Haroon.

“In its financial result, the company posted EPS of Rs3.85/share and declared a DPS of Rs1.55/share taking the 1H2016 pay-out to Rs3.40/share. UBL (1.98%) in the banking sector extended its previous day gain as the company posted better than expected 1H2016 result,” he said.



“Profit taking was witnessed in the pharmaceutical sector as investor came in to book their profits. Major losers of the aforementioned sector were SEARL (-2.08%) and GLAXO (-1.97%).

“Moving forward we remain bullish on the market as the ongoing result season will keep investor interest alive,” Haroon added.

Trading volumes rose to 224 million shares compared with Tuesday’s tally of 197 million.

Shares of 361 companies were traded. At the end of the day, 161 stocks closed higher, 173 declined while 27 remained unchanged. The value of shares traded during the day was Rs13.2 billion.

Dewan Cement was the volume leader with 24.9 million shares, losing Rs0.85 to finish at Rs15.55. It was followed by Dewan Motors with 17.8 million shares, gaining Rs0.97 to close at Rs19.04 and Agritech Limited with 14.8 million shares, gaining Rs0.07 to close at Rs13.00.

Foreign institutional investors were net buyers of Rs248 million during the trading session, according to data maintained by the National Clearing Company of Pakistan Limited.

Published in The Express Tribune, July 28^th, 2016.

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