Market watch: Bourse sets new record, crosses 50,000 points

Benchmark KSE 100-share Index rises 435.59 points

KARACHI: In a spectacular rally continuing for months with some correction, the Pakistan Stock Exchange touched another record peak on Thursday as the benchmark KSE 100-share Index rose past 50,000 points in a trading session led by cement, fertiliser and banking stocks.

At close, the Pakistan Stock Exchange’s (PSX) benchmark index recorded a rise of 0.88%, or 435.59 points, to end the day’s trading at 50,192.36.



Elixir Securities, in its report, stated the market opened positive, but traded range bound for most part of the day due to a lack of triggers. However, late aggressive buying, reportedly from institutional investors, in financial, cement and select index names pushed the KSE-100 above the 50,000 level.

“Power sector outperformed (the overall market) as Hub Power (+3.3%) led gains and closed at a new record high on news that the company had finalised agreements with the government on planned coal power projects,” said analyst Ali Raza.

“K-Electric (+3.7%) too came back in the limelight after a breather of two sessions and traded at the highest level in the last two years as buying from domestic investors outpaced selling from foreigners.”



The trio of index-heavy financial stocks - Habib Bank (+1.9%), MCB Bank (+2.7%) and United Bank (+1.6%) - cumulatively contributed more than one-third to the KSE-100 index as foreign investors reportedly turned buyers, said Raza.

Meanwhile, Lucky Cement (+1.1%) closed moderately up after its earnings announcement came broadly in line with market consensus.

In his report, JS Global analyst Nabeel Haroon said positivity prevailed in the market during most part of the day with the index gaining around 435 points to close at 50,192.

“Hefty buying was witnessed during latter hours, which helped the market to close comfortably above 50,000. Banking sector led the gains as index heavyweight Habib Bank, MCB Bank and United Bank gained to close in the green zone,” said Haroon.



“Investor interest was seen in the fertiliser sector on the back of fertiliser dispatch numbers released for the month of December 2016, which showed improvement of 7% and 17% year-on-year to 898,000 and 155,000 tons for urea and DAP respectively.”

Fauji Fertiliser Company (+0.65%) and Fatima Fertiliser (+2.40%) were among major gainers of the sector.

Bank AL Habib (+3.52%) rose as the banking company declared its year-end result for 2016. It posted earnings per share (EPS) of Rs7.31 versus street estimate of around Rs6.6.

The earnings were accompanied by a year-end dividend of Rs3.5 per share. Higher-than-expected earnings came on the back of capital gains booked by the bank during 4QFY16, the analyst said.

Lucky Cement gained as the cement company in its result announcement posted better-than-expected EPS of Rs21.76 for its 1HFY17.



Major index influencers of the day were Hubco (+3.25%), Habib Bank and MCB Bank. “Moving forward, we recommend investors to book profit on strength at current levels,” he added.

Trading volumes fell to 449 million shares compared with Wednesday’s tally of 459 million.

Shares of 437 companies were traded. At the end of the day, 237 stocks closed higher, 184 declined while 16 remained unchanged. The value of shares traded during the day was Rs21.5 billion.

K-Electric Limited was the volume leader with 74 million shares, gaining Rs0.37 to finish at Rs10.25. It was followed by Japan Power with 32.3 million shares, gaining Rs0.21 to close at Rs8.22 and PIAC(A) with 26.1 million shares, gaining Rs0.47 to close at Rs9.80.

Foreign institutional investors were net buyers of Rs424 million during the trading session, according to data maintained by the National Clearing Company of Pakistan Limited.