Market watch: KSE-100 index crosses 50,000 after a three-month gap

Benchmark index rises 403.02 points to end at 50,111.67

KARACHI: The stock market continued its fast and steady advance on Monday as the KSE 100-share Index crossed 50,000 points after a hiatus of three months.

The bourse saw a fourth consecutive day of positive trading since before the much-anticipated Panama verdict on Thursday last week.

At close, the Pakistan Stock Exchange's (PSX) benchmark index rose 403.02 points, or 0.81%, to end at 50,111.67.

According to JS Research analyst Nabeel Haroon, the market continued its bullish momentum as investor interest was primarily seen in the automobile sector.

Pak Suzuki Motor Company (+5%), Honda Atlas Cars (Pakistan) Limited (+4.23%) and Indus Motor Company (+4.72%) were top performers of the sector.



Two auto assemblers introduced their new variants over the weekend. Pak Suzuki introduced 1,000cc new Cultus whereas Honda Atlas unveiled Honda BR-V, a seven-seat sports utility vehicle.

"Additionally, Pakistan State Oil (+3.25%) and Hi-Tech Lubricants (+3.61%) in the oil marketing companies sector gained as both declared their 9MFY17 results," Haroon said.

"However, Nishat Mills Limited (-2.08%)  in the textile sector lost value to close in the red zone as it posted earnings of Rs8.78/share in its 9MFY17 result, down 13% YoY on lower margins."

Meanwhile, Elixir Securities analyst Ali Raza said equities managed a finish above 50,000 points after a gap of nearly three months as a rally post-Supreme Court's verdict on Panama case continued into the new week.



"The market after a positive open showed minor selling pressure that pushed the benchmark KSE-100 index into the red zone in the first two hours of trading," he said.

"Early declines were led by index-heavy exploration and production sector as investors tracked retreat in global crude prices, while key index names across major sectors struggled to carry momentum and traded lower on profit-taking."

Thereafter, steady buying both from institutional and retail investors helped stocks to regain momentum, with index-heavy MCB Bank (+3.9%), Oil & Gas Development Company (+2.5%) and Sui Northern Gas Pipelines (+4.9%) leading the recovery.

Among autos, Pak Suzuki (+5%) hit its upper price limit on last week's announcement of another taxi scheme, while Indus Motor (+4.7%) garnered attention after reporting a stellar quarterly result, he added.



Overall, trading volumes rose slightly to 399 million shares compared with Friday's tally of 395 million.

Shares of 402 companies were traded. At the end of the day, 235 stocks closed higher and 155 declined while 12 remained unchanged. The value of shares traded during the day was Rs22.2 billion.

Power Cement was the volume leader with 35.8 million shares, gaining Rs0.93 to close at Rs20.64. It was followed by Aisha Steel Mills with 28.4 million shares, gaining Rs1.25 to close at Rs26.69 and Azgard Nine with 26.7 million shares, losing Rs0.01 to close at Rs13.12.

Foreign institutional investors were net buyers of Rs441.5 million during the trading session, according to data maintained by the National Clearing Company of Pakistan Limited.