Market watch: KSE-100 climbs 844 points as investors return

Benchmark index increases 2.09% to settle at 41,312.59

KARACHI: Stocks bounced back in a rather flamboyant fashion, as the KSE-100 Index climbed 844.10 points on Friday.

For a change, investors kept aside political uncertainty and deteriorating macroeconomic indicators to take advantage of attractive valuations, injecting money across the board with cement, auto and bank stocks driving the index forward.

At close, the benchmark KSE-100 index registered a rise of 2.09% to settle at 41,312.59 points.

Elixir Securities, in its report, stated Pakistan equities traded higher to settle above 41,300 helped by gains in major sectors including cement.

"Market struggled for direction in the first fifteen minutes but then cements provided the much-needed push as the sector rallied at full throttle with investors rejoicing over news of upcoming meetings by cement players for resolution of pricing issues," stated Elixir.

Consequently, all stocks in the listed cement space closed higher where DG Khan Cement (DGKC PA +5%) hit the upper price limit while Maple Leaf Cement (MLCF PA +4.3%) traded second-best volumes of over nine million shares on volumes chart.



"Other sectors including oils and financials followed the lead and edged up on institutional cherry-picking, albeit witnessing relatively lower activity as evident from flattish volumes going through in benchmark indices.

"[We] see current momentum to continue with cement sector remaining buoyant and likely helping KSE-100 Index to surpass key resistance level of 42,000," the report added.

Overall, trading volumes fell to 147 million shares compared with Thursday's tally of 150 million.

Shares of 386 companies were traded. At the end of the day, 288 stocks closed higher, 78 declined while 20 remained unchanged. The value of shares traded during the day was Rs8.7 billion.

TRG Pakistan was the volume leader with 10.2 million shares, gaining Rs1.66 to close at Rs35.86. It was followed by Maple Leaf with 9.1 million shares, gaining Rs3.18 to close at Rs77.18 and K-Electric with 8.5 million shares, gaining Rs0.24 to close at Rs6.93.

Foreign institutional investors were net sellers of Rs1.15 billion during the trading session, according to data compiled by the National Clearing Company of Pakistan Limited.