Market watch: KSE-100 bounces back before long holidays

Benchmark index surges 857.85 points, to close at 46,332.31

KARACHI: Stocks bounced back on Thursday from the plunge seen in previous sessions and ended the week in the green zone for the second straight session before long Eid holidays.

The positive activity continued since the morning and the KSE 100-share Index touched an intra-day high of over 980 points.

At close of trading, the benchmark KSE 100-share Index finished with a rise of 857.85 points or 1.89% to close at 46,332.31.

According to Elixir Securities, Pakistan equities extended gains and closed last working day of the week before long holidays positive with the benchmark index surging 1.9% and closing above 46,300.

“The market kicked off trading on a positive note and increased steadily during the day as notable index names across major sectors inched upwards on healthy institutional buying. Habib Bank (HBL, +2.8%), Lucky Cement (+4.3%), Engro Corp (+3.4%), Fauji Fertilizers (+5%) and Dawood Hercules (+5%) were among top five movers,” stated the report.



Moreover, K-Electric (+2.2%) closed higher and dominated the volumes chart after churning out most volumes since early February.

Another highlight was Amreli Steels (+5%) that hit its upper price limit after the National Tariff Commission confirmed 24% anti-dumping duty on the import of Chinese steel billets.

The market next week would be guided by multiple factors including direction of foreign institutional flows and global crude performance while politics would remain a drag with investors closely following developments in the Panama Papers case against the premier’s family, the report said.

Pakistan Stock Exchange will remain closed from June 23 to June 28. It will revert to normal trading hours from June 29.

JS Global analyst Arhum Ghous said the market continued its positive trend as the index closed at 46,332, up 858 points.



All sectors contributed to the positive trend and commercial bank heavyweights cumulatively contributed +217 points to the KSE-100 index. HBL (+2.81%), United Bank (+0.97%) and MCB Bank (+1.98%) were major contributors from the banking sector.

“Lucky Cement (+4.27%) and Nishat Mills (+5%) closed higher than their previous day’s close on the back of news that three companies have received approval to set up car assembly plants, which include Lucky Cement, United Motors and Nishat Group,” said Ghous.

Investor interest was witnessed in the cement sector where Cherat Cement (+4.35%), Lucky Cement (+4.27%) and Maple Leaf Cement (+2.25%) were among the stocks that closed in the green zone.

“Moving forward, we recommend investors to hold long-term positions and not to take short-term positions until clarity on the political scenario,” he added.

Overall, trading volumes fell to 294 million shares compared with Wednesday’s tally of 346 million.



Shares of 383 companies were traded. At the end of the day, 259 stocks closed higher and 106 declined while 18 remained unchanged. The value of shares traded during the day was Rs13.3 billion.

K-Electric was the volume leader with 68.2 million shares, gaining Rs0.15 to close at Rs7. It was followed by TRG Pak with 15.7 million shares, losing Rs0.65 to close at Rs42.07 and The Bank of Punjab (R) with 14.8 million shares, losing Rs0.01 to close at Rs0.05.

Foreign institutional investors were net buyers of Rs184 million during the trading session, according to data compiled by the National Clearing Company of Pakistan Limited.