Market watch: Bourse continues to climb, closes above 49,000 points

Benchmark KSE 100-share Index rises 322.56 points

KARACHI: The stock market continued its upward march on Tuesday as buying during second half propelled the benchmark KSE 100-share Index to above 49,000 points.

At close, the Pakistan Stock Exchange’s benchmark index recorded a rise of 322.56 points or 0.66% to finish at 49,020.21.

According to Elixir Securities, the market carried Monday’s momentum and inched upwards in early trade, but the index was unable to sustain gains for long and gradually shed all the increase by midday, thanks to profit-taking.

“Country’s largest listed power utility, K-Electric (-1.8%), continued its losing streak after the National Electric Power Regulatory Authority (Nepra) revised down its multi-year tariff,” said analyst Ali Raza.



“However, grant of country’s first-ever ferry licence to the Pakistan National Shipping Corporation (+5%) helped the (company’s) stock to hit its upper price limit.”

Trading activity showed an upsurge in the second half when index-heavy MCB Bank (+2.4%) led gains on reported institutional buying, followed by Searle Company (+4.7%) and Sui Northern Gas Pipelines (+4.2%).

“Pakistan Petroleum (+1.3%) also aided the uptrend post-Q2 result announcement in which the company surprised investors with a higher cash pay-out,” said Raza.

Despite a surge of over 1.5% in the last three sessions, he said, the sustainability of current trend remained a question mark due to not-so-healthy volumes on the upside.



“Hence, unless institutional activity picks up strongly in coming days, we see a range-bound market with investors continuing to wait for clarity on the domestic political front and any progress on the new margin-based leverage system,” he added.

JS Global analyst Arhum Ghous said the market opened on a positive note and followed its previous trend. The index traded at an intra-day high of +362 points and intra-day low of -21 points to finally close at 49,020.

“Pakistan Petroleum, Oil and Gas Development Company (+0.50%) and Pakistan Oilfields (+0.78%) in the E&P sector closed in the green zone as oil prices rose on expectations that an OPEC-led production cut to spur the market could be extended,” he said.

K-Electric closed in the red zone on the back of news that Nepra had set an integrated multi-year tariff for the power utility for a seven-year period (2016-23) and reduced the base tariff to Rs12.07 per unit from the existing Rs15.57, Ghous said.

Besides, Hub Power Company (+0.64%) closed higher as its 1,320-megawatt coal-fired power plant was inaugurated in Hub on Tuesday.



“Moving forward, we expect volatility to persist and recommend investors to stay cautious,” he added.

Overall, trading volumes rose to 225 million shares compared with Monday’s tally of 134.7 million.

Shares of 403 companies were traded. At the end of the day, 294 stocks closed higher, 83 declined while 26 remained unchanged. The value of shares traded during the day was Rs11.2 billion.

K-Electric was the volume leader with 36 million shares, losing Rs0.16 to close at Rs8.87. It was followed by Aisha Steel Mills with 25.5 million shares, gaining Rs1.16 to close at Rs24.52 and Power Cement Limited with 10.6 million shares, gaining Rs1 to close at Rs20.02.

Foreign institutional investors were net sellers of Rs149 million during the trading session, according to data maintained by the National Clearing Company of Pakistan Limited.