PHOTO: FILE
KARACHI: The stock market continued to enjoy the positive momentum on Thursday with most heavyweight sectors such as cement, steel and banking notching up significant gains.
A massive inflow of funds from institutional and high net worth investors coupled with increased trading volumes contributed to the bullish sentiment at the bourse.
At the end of trading, the benchmark KSE 100-share Index registered an increase of 507.71 points or 1.33% to settle at 38,715.77.
According to Elixir Securities' analyst Zainul Abedin, Pakistan equities extended gains and the benchmark index went up 1.3% to cross 38,700 points.
The market, after a sideways start, dropped in early trading, but later it swiftly recovered, steered mainly by steel stocks as the sector came on the radar of value hunters.
Notable names like International Steels (+5%), Amreli Steels (+5%), Crescent Steel (+5%) and Mughal Iron and Steel Industries (+5%) hit their respective upper price limits.
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Financial stocks also built on the previous day’s gains among which Habib Bank (+1.3%) and United Bank (+3.4%) maintained their upward journey on healthy interest from investors who likely bet on expectations of a hike in interest rates.
DG Khan Cement (+2.4%), which has so far shed over 18% in the current month, found some footing and led gains in the cement sector. It saw a good exchange of shares totalling 8.7 million, the highest volume for the stock in a year.
“With weekly support developing around 38,000, we expect the KSE-100 Index to break above the interim resistance at 38,900 which will pave the way for the upside towards next barriers at 39,500 and 40,200,” he added.
JS Global analyst Maaz Mulla said bulls dominated the trading session on the back of strong participation from local investors as the index jumped to 38,794 points in intra-day trading. It finally closed up 1.33% at 38,716 points.
Overall volumes also improved to 180 million shares, up 39% from the previous trading session, while the traded value increased 40%.
Amongst the top gainers were DG Khan Cement (+2.36%), International Steels (+5%), Engro (+3.63%), and Pakistan State Oil (+3.04%). In addition, the banking sector was also in the limelight on expectations of an increase in interest rate in the near future.
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Refineries performed well on the back of news that plans were under way to export furnace oil. Attock Refinery (+3%) and National Refinery (+3.02%) closed in the green.
The steel sector showed a rally where International Steels (+5%), Amreli Steels (+5%) and Crescent Steels (+5%) hit their respective upper circuits.
“We anticipate institutional flows to continue in the last days of this month. We advise investors to avail themselves of opportunities in the cement, steel and banking sectors,” Mulla said.
Overall, trading volumes increased to 179 million shares compared with Wednesday’s tally of 129 million.
Shares of 365 companies were traded. At the end of the day, 204 stocks closed higher, 148 declined while 13 remained unchanged. The value of shares traded during the day was Rs6.9 billion.
TRG Pakistan was the volume leader with 14.9 million shares, gaining Rs1.33 to close at Rs27.93. It was followed by Dewan Salman with 13.3 million shares, losing Rs1 to close at Rs1.20 and DG Khan Cement with 8.8 million shares, gaining Rs2.66 to close at Rs115.40.
Foreign institutional investors were net sellers of Rs339 million during the trading session, according to data compiled by the National Clearing Company of Pakistan.
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