Market watch: Bullish activity witnessed as index rises 32 points

Rising prices of cement and fertiliser pull bourse up.

KARACHI:

Bullish activity was witnessed at the Karachi bourse in the final trading session of the week on Friday, on the back of institutional and foreign interest over expectations of handsome corporate earnings.

The Karachi Stock Exchange (KSE) 100-share index rose 0.27 per cent or 31.69 points to end at 11,684.23 points.

Higher prices of cement and fertiliser coupled with the oil  sector played the catalyst in the market’s advance, despite growing concerns over rising circular debt in the energy sector.

Fertiliser stocks boosted sentiments of local investors with a renewed buying interest on the back of an increase in urea prices, which would have a positive impact on the sector’s earnings, said Topline Securities analyst Samar Iqbal.

Investor sentiment was further supported by a higher-than-expected quarterly result announcement by Habib Bank Limited (HBL). The result-based rally is expected to continue, as major blue-chip companies are scheduled to announce their earnings next week.

Trade volumes, however, fell to 56.84 million shares compared with Thursday’s tally of 89.03 million shares.

Shares of 338 companies were traded on Friday. At the end of the day, 108 stocks closed higher, 128 declined and 102 remained unchanged. The value of shares traded during the day was Rs2.82 billion.

Lotte Pakistan PTA was the volume leader with 8.02 million shares, gaining Rs0.28 to finish at Rs15.38. It was followed by Jahangir Siddiqui and Co with 4.81 million shares, gaining Rs0.08 to close at Rs6.75 and Fauji Fertiliser Bin Qasim with 3.96 million shares, gaining Rs0.8 to close at Rs40.94.



Published in The Express Tribune, April 16^th, 2011.