Market watch: KSE-100 Index gains 422 points as political dust settles to an extent

Benchmark index gains 1.1% to end at 38,645.90

KARACHI: Investors returned to the market with renewed zeal after the massacre witnessed in the preceding session, taking the index as high as 700 points in intra-day trading.

The KSE-100 opened on a positive note, but declined to end marginally positive by the time the first session ended. However, after resumption, share prices surged as the index shot up before profit-taking meant the KSE-100 finished 422 points higher from its previous day's close.

The dramatic turn of events came after the Supreme Court dismissed the National Accountability Bureau's (NAB) appeal to reopen Hudaibiya Mills case against the Sharifs.

At the end of trading, the benchmark KSE 100-share Index registered an increase of 422.35 points or 1.10% to settle at 38,645.90.



JS Global analyst Maaz Mulla said the KSE-100 index remained positive in Friday's trading session as the index traded between an intraday high of 701 points and an intraday low of 31 points to close at 38,646.

Major movers at the bourse were ENGRO (+3.98%), HBL (+2.30%), SNGP (+3.94%) and PPL (+1.18%), contributing 160 points to the index. Investors' interest was seen in the engineering sector as MUGHAL (+4.54%) and ASTL (+3.07%) closed in green zone on the back of news reports suggesting increase in price of steel bars.

In the textile sector, NML (+2.05%) announced the ground breaking of Hyundai Nishat Motors and commencement of production of new spinning plant this month.

SSGC (+1.11%) and SNGP (+3.94%) from the gas distribution and PSO (+1.87%) from the OMCs closed in green. POL (+0.59%) and OGDC (+0.25%) in the E&P sector retrieved to close in the green.



"Going forward, we recommend investor to book profits on strength," Mulla remarked.

Overall, trading volumes increased to 139.8 million shares compared with Thursday's tally of 92 million.

Shares of 349 companies were traded. At the end of the day, 222 stocks closed higher, 98 declined while 29 remained unchanged. The value of shares traded during the day was Rs9.1 billion.

TRG Pakistan was the volume leader with 17.9 million shares, gaining Rs0.35 to close at Rs30.57. It was followed by Pak Elektron with 11.3 million shares, gaining Rs1.40 to close at Rs45.40 and Engro Corporation XD with 7.3 million shares, gaining Rs10.28 to close at Rs268.66.

Foreign institutional investors were net buyers of Rs12.2 million during the trading session, according to data compiled by the National Clearing Company of Pakistan.