Market watch: KSE-100 index rises slightly, crosses 51,100 barrier

PSX's benchmark index records an increase of 30.39 points

KARACHI: A dull session at the Pakistan bourse on Wednesday led to a minor increase in the KSE 100-share Index that broke the 51,100 barrier.

At close, the Pakistan Stock Exchange's (PSX) benchmark KSE 100-share Index recorded an increase of 30.39 points, or 0.06%, to end at 51,103.53.

According to Elixir Securities' analyst Ali Raza, the market hit the brakes after the recent surge and experienced a dull session.

"The market began the session in positive territory, then traded volatile in a narrow range for a brief period and then succumbed to mild profit-taking that dragged the index into the red zone; however, the final 30 minutes of trading saw sharp swings," he said.

"Most cement and oil names closed lower on profit-taking while key financial stocks including Habib Bank Limited (+1.6%) and MCB Bank (+1.1%) finished higher."



According to JS Research, a rally was witnessed in the banking sector where big banks gave a boost to the index as the MSCI Emerging Markets rebalancing date for Pakistan bourse approached.

Analyst Arhum Ghous said Saudi Arabia's announcement to cut oil supplies to the regional market impacted the index.

"The day's major volume was witnessed in WorldCall Telecom Limited (+20%), Engro Polymer (-3.1%) and Dewan Cement (+4.96%) while Pakistan Petroleum Limited (+1.04%) closed in the green as oil in the international market edged up slightly after Riyadh announced that it would cut oil supplies to the region," he said.

Meanwhile, there was intense profit-taking in the cement sector with Pioneer Cement (-2.99%), DG Khan Cement (-1.38%) and Lucky Cement (-0.89%) being the major laggards of the sector.



Overall, trading volumes dropped to 334 million shares compared with Tuesday's tally of 370 million.

Shares of 375 companies were traded. At the end of the day, 187 stocks closed higher and 172 declined while 16 remained unchanged. The value of shares traded during the day was Rs14.9 billion.

WorldCall Telecom was the volume leader with 55 million shares, gaining Rs0.52 to close at Rs3.06. It was followed by Engro Polymer with 21.5 million shares, losing Rs0.94 to close at Rs29.57 and Dewan Cement with 16.3 million shares, gaining Rs1.27 to close at Rs26.85.

Foreign institutional investors were net sellers of Rs96.6 million during the trading session, according to data maintained by the National Clearing Company of Pakistan Limited.