Market watch: KSE-100 gains 419 points as institutional buying continues

Benchmark-100 index rises 0.98% to close at 43,358.97

KARACHI: The stock market powered past the 43,000-point level with foreigners continuing to be net buyers to help the KSE-100 Index gain 0.98% on Wednesday.

Despite the protest called by Pakistan Awami Tehreek Chairman Tahirul Qadri, investors bought stocks soothed by the Lahore High Court's orders to hold the rally till midnight. The media was also barred from covering the rally after the allotted time. Buying was witnessed in sectors across the board, which pushed the benchmark index past 43,000.

At close, the KSE-100 Index ended with an increase of 419.29 points or 0.98% to finish at 43,358.97 points.

Elixir Securities' analyst Ali Raza said equities closed higher as institutional buying in index names across key sectors helped the benchmark KSE-100 Index move past 43,300.

"Market started on a lacklustre note as most participants seemed occupied by news flow on domestic politics as joint opposition parties planned an anti-government protest in Lahore on the Model Town incident," Raza commented.



Among key sectors, notable index names across cements, financials and OMCs contributed to the day's gains, while textiles were also in the limelight on positive morning news that the premier will announce an export package soon. Steels and select IPPs also ended the day in green with the former on better earnings' expectation while latter on reported foreign buying interest.

"[We] see investors to also closely monitor developments on political front overnight and if the opposition parties manage to stir strong street power we may see some profit-taking in the coming sessions," Raza added.

JS Global analyst Maaz Mulla said bears were defeated in Wednesday's trading session despite tension in the political environment.

Major contribution came from HBL (+1.4%), SEARL (+4.9%), PPL (+1.0%), MCB (+0.8%) and NML (+3.4%) cumulatively contributing +123 points to the index. On the news front, Prime Minister Shahid Khaqan Abbasi is likely to unveil new export package comprising reduction in industrial electricity and gas tariffs and other incentives during his possible visit to the city.

Investor interest was witnessed in the steel sector where MUGHAL (+5.0%), INIL (+2.0%), ISL (+2.6%) and CSAP (+1.5%) closed in the green. Banking space continued its previous day rally where big banks such as HBL (+1.4%), UBL (+0.7%) and BAHL (+2.5%) were the major gainers of the mentioned sector.



"Moving forward, we expect the market to remain range bound on the back of political fiasco and recommend investors to accumulate valued stocks on dips," Mulla commented.

Overall, trading volume decreased to 151 million shares, compared with Tuesday tally of 161 million.

Shares of 386 companies were traded. At the end of the day, 256 stocks closed higher, 110 declined while 20 remained unchanged. The value of shares traded during the day was Rs6.6 billion.

Pace (Pakistan) was the volume leader with 10.9 million shares, losing Rs0.22 to close at Rs5. It was followed by Azgard Nine with 10.4 million shares, gaining Rs0.74 to close at Rs15 and Lotte Chemical with 6.8 million shares, gaining Rs0.33 to close at Rs8.14.

Foreign institutional investors were net buyers of Rs784 million during the trading session, according to data compiled by the National Clearing Company of Pakistan.