Market watch: Stocks advance on back of cement, auto sectors

Benchmark index gains 168.80 points to close at 45,172.99

KARACHI: Stocks bounced back on Wednesday from preceding session’s decline, getting support from auto and cement sectors to finish trading on a positive note.

The KSE-100 Index recorded directionless trading in early hours, but later renewed investor interest was noted as the index continued to trade positive. In intra-day trading, it rose 228 points.

At close, the benchmark KSE 100-share Index recorded an increase of 168.80 points or 0.38% to settle at 45,172.99.

According to a report of Topline Securities, the cement sector sparked interest among investors because of strong demand for the commodity and expected increase in prices of Rs10 per bag.

“Consequently, the cement sector added 67 points to the index, which led the benchmark to gain 169 points,” it said.

Sazgar Engineering closed at its upper price limit as the Ministry of Industries and Production awarded “Category A Greenfield Investment Status” to the company for the assembly of passenger and off-road vehicles.



TRG Pakistan remained the volume leader and closed at upper price lock as the company was going for initial public offering (IPO) of its indirect subsidiary Ibex, the report said.

Top five stocks Fauji Fertiliser Company (+3%), MCB Bank (+1.7%), Lucky Cement (+1.5%), TRG Pakistan (+5%) and Fauji Cement (+3.3%) added 132 points to the index whereas Habib Bank (-1%), United Bank (-0.4%), Allied Bank (-1.9%), Fauji Fertiliser Bin Qasim (-1.9%) and Habib Metro Bank (-1.2%) erased 57 points.

Overall, trading volumes increased to 248 million shares compared with Tuesday’s tally of 235 million.

Shares of 365 companies were traded. At the end of the day, 193 stocks closed higher, 157 declined while 15 remained unchanged. The value of shares traded during the day was Rs10.5 billion.

TRG Pakistan was the volume leader with 22.9 million shares, gaining Rs1.91 to close at Rs40.21. It was followed by K-Electric with 22.6 million shares, gaining Rs0.18 to close at Rs6.75 and Pak Elektron with 17.5 million shares, gaining Rs1.71 to close at Rs47.56.

Foreign institutional investors were net sellers of Rs596.4 million worth of shares during the trading session, according to data compiled by the National Clearing Company of Pakistan.