Market watch: KSE-100 gains 175 points

Benchmark-100 index increases 0.4% to finish at 43,690.36

KARACHI: Backed by institutional interest, the KSE-100 ended positive on Tuesday with index-heavy financial and oil stocks garnering attention on an otherwise dull day of trading.

The day began on a positive note with the index shooting up over 360 points in intra-day trading before profit-taking and selling pressure erased the gains.

At close, however, the benchmark KSE 100-share Index ended with an increase of 175.28 points or 0.40% to settle at 43,690.36.

Elixir Securities' analyst Muhammad Arbash said equities closed positive in line with the rebound in global and regional markets.

"Trading started on a dull note with stocks trading sideways in the early hours, however, buying interest from institutions crept up in selected sectors as the day progressed," said Arbash.



"Financials led the gains with Habib Bank (HBL PA +3.4%) and United Bank (UBL PA +2.3%) coming under the limelight after Supreme Court's judgment on an increase in minimum pension payable to banking employees. We understand that this pertains to ex (pre-privatisation) employees of HBL, UBL and ABL and will only be applicable to future pension payments with no retrospective impact.

"This comes as a huge relief when compared to earlier market fears of retrospective application.

"After financials, other sectors including oils and fertilisers also inched up and helped the index rise as much as 0.8% on the day. Cements stalled momentum towards the end with Lucky Cement LUCK (PA -1.1%) and DG Khan (DGKC PA -2%) declining on profit-taking.

Meanwhile, in its quarterly review overnight, MSCI announced no change for Pakistan's constituents.



"With KSE-100 Index finding support around 43,500, chartists now expect the index to recover more ground and test nearby resistance around 44,000 in the coming sessions," the analyst added.

Overall, trading volumes fell to 204 million shares compared with Monday's tally of 215 million.

Shares of 354 companies were traded. At the end of the day, 157 stocks closed higher, 183 declined while 14 remained unchanged. The value of shares traded during the day was Rs7.6 billion.

Azgard Nine was the volume leader with 13.9 million shares, gaining Rs1.00 to close at Rs18.88. It was followed by Engro Polymer with 13.5 million shares, gaining Rs0.82 to close at Rs28.43 and TRG Pak Ltd with 11.5 million shares, losing Rs0.38 to close at Rs38.75.

Foreign institutional investors were net sellers of Rs769 million during the trading session, according to data compiled by the National Clearing Company of Pakistan.