Market watch: KSE-100 gains 615.28 points to power past 42,500
Ends positive for 12th successive session as buying spree continues
Ends positive for 12th successive session as buying spree continues. PHOTO: EXPRESS
KARACHI:
Investors continued to buy stocks in droves as the KSE-100 Index registered a gain of 615.28 points or 1.47% to power past the 42,500 level.
The gain meant the index ended positive for the 12th successive session, cumulatively adding 12.1% during the bullish run that started at the end of December.
On Friday, trading began on a positive note with the KSE-100 Index witnessing a surge of 300 points in the first half. The buying spree continued when trading resumed after the mid-day break leading the index to hit an intra-day high of 42,584.96 points.
At close, the KSE-100 Index ended with a gain of 615.28 points or 1.47% to finish at 42,523.99.
Buying was witnessed across the board with auto assemblers, cement and banking stocks attracting attention.
Market watch: KSE-100 ends positive for 11th successive session
JS Global analyst Maaz Mulla said bulls ruled the local bourse on the last trading day of the week.
"Volumes also improved by 17% day-on-day as a total of 261 million shares were traded during the trading session," said Mulla.
On the news front, Minister of State for Finance visited the Pakistan Stock Exchange where he met members of the Board of Directors of the PSX and assured full support from his side to address directors' issues.
Banking sector extended its previous day gains where big banks boosted the index by 143 points. UBL (+2.90%), HBL (+2.24%) and BAHL (+2.70%) were the major movers of the aforementioned sector.
Investors' interest was also witnessed in the cement sector on the back of growth in cement dispatches for the month of Dec-2017 that depicted 5% YoY growth. MLCF (+4.83%), LUCK (+2.94%), PIOC (+1.84%) and FCCL (+3.47%) closed in the green zone.
News regarding fertiliser export shifted investors' focus to the fertiliser sector on declining concerns over urea closing inventory, where EFERT (+1.37%) and FFC (+3.64%) closed positively.
Market watch: KSE-100 closes positive for 10th successive session
E&P sector closed negatively as crude oil prices fell, dropping away from highs last seen in 2015, where PPL (-0.56%) and POL (-0.71%) decreased the most.
"Moving forward, local political situation and US policy could play negatively, however, strong fundamental news in different sectors should not be ignored. We maintain our stance of buy on dips in the oil, cement, steel and banking sector," he added.
Overall, trading volume increased to 260.9 million shares, compared with Thursday's tally of 222.4 million.
Shares of 388 companies were traded. At the end of the day, 282 stocks closed higher, 86 declined while 20 remained unchanged. The value of shares traded during the day was Rs9.5 billion.
Bank of Punjab was the volume leader with 18 million shares, gaining Rs0.75 to close at Rs9.51. It was followed by WorldCall Telecom with 11.9 million shares, gaining Rs0.05 to close at Rs2.96 and K-Electric with 11.4 million shares, losing Rs0.09 to close at Rs6.86.
Foreign institutional investors were net buyers of Rs504.9 million during the trading session, according to data compiled by the National Clearing Company of Pakistan.
Investors continued to buy stocks in droves as the KSE-100 Index registered a gain of 615.28 points or 1.47% to power past the 42,500 level.
The gain meant the index ended positive for the 12th successive session, cumulatively adding 12.1% during the bullish run that started at the end of December.
On Friday, trading began on a positive note with the KSE-100 Index witnessing a surge of 300 points in the first half. The buying spree continued when trading resumed after the mid-day break leading the index to hit an intra-day high of 42,584.96 points.
At close, the KSE-100 Index ended with a gain of 615.28 points or 1.47% to finish at 42,523.99.
Buying was witnessed across the board with auto assemblers, cement and banking stocks attracting attention.
Market watch: KSE-100 ends positive for 11th successive session
JS Global analyst Maaz Mulla said bulls ruled the local bourse on the last trading day of the week.
"Volumes also improved by 17% day-on-day as a total of 261 million shares were traded during the trading session," said Mulla.
On the news front, Minister of State for Finance visited the Pakistan Stock Exchange where he met members of the Board of Directors of the PSX and assured full support from his side to address directors' issues.
Banking sector extended its previous day gains where big banks boosted the index by 143 points. UBL (+2.90%), HBL (+2.24%) and BAHL (+2.70%) were the major movers of the aforementioned sector.
Investors' interest was also witnessed in the cement sector on the back of growth in cement dispatches for the month of Dec-2017 that depicted 5% YoY growth. MLCF (+4.83%), LUCK (+2.94%), PIOC (+1.84%) and FCCL (+3.47%) closed in the green zone.
News regarding fertiliser export shifted investors' focus to the fertiliser sector on declining concerns over urea closing inventory, where EFERT (+1.37%) and FFC (+3.64%) closed positively.
Market watch: KSE-100 closes positive for 10th successive session
E&P sector closed negatively as crude oil prices fell, dropping away from highs last seen in 2015, where PPL (-0.56%) and POL (-0.71%) decreased the most.
"Moving forward, local political situation and US policy could play negatively, however, strong fundamental news in different sectors should not be ignored. We maintain our stance of buy on dips in the oil, cement, steel and banking sector," he added.
Overall, trading volume increased to 260.9 million shares, compared with Thursday's tally of 222.4 million.
Shares of 388 companies were traded. At the end of the day, 282 stocks closed higher, 86 declined while 20 remained unchanged. The value of shares traded during the day was Rs9.5 billion.
Bank of Punjab was the volume leader with 18 million shares, gaining Rs0.75 to close at Rs9.51. It was followed by WorldCall Telecom with 11.9 million shares, gaining Rs0.05 to close at Rs2.96 and K-Electric with 11.4 million shares, losing Rs0.09 to close at Rs6.86.
Foreign institutional investors were net buyers of Rs504.9 million during the trading session, according to data compiled by the National Clearing Company of Pakistan.