Market watch: Bourse turns bullish as KSE-100 surges nearly 1,100 points

Benchmark index rises 2.63% to finish trading at 42,744.82

KARACHI: A day after the market broke a six-day losing streak, the KSE-100 Index performed exceptionally well on Tuesday and soared close to 1,100 points which took it near 42,800.

The rise came on the back of investors' interest in index-heavy cement, fertiliser and oil and gas stocks all of which closed in the black. Apart from these, automobile, chemical and financial stocks also drew investors and most of them closed the day higher.

In the morning, the market kicked off on a positive note and buying activity dominated trading throughout the day. Most of the stocks closed in the green.



At close, the benchmark KSE 100-share Index recorded an increase of 1,096.17 points or 2.63% to settle at 42,744.82.

Elixir securities' analyst Muhammad Arbash said the market made an impressive recovery amid aggressive value buying mainly from local institutional investors.

"Pakistan equities skyrocketed with the benchmark KSE-100 Index settling above 42,700, up 2.6%," he said. "Oil stocks (+3.1%) led early gains as higher global crude sparked investors' interest and later other key sectors including steel (+4.9%), fertiliser (+4.4%), cement (+2.9%) and banks (+2.2%) joined the rally."

Trading activity got a boost as volumes on the KSE All-share Index more than doubled compared to the current month's average.

"The market may see further recovery as institutional flows set the tone, however, any sizeable outflow by foreigners in coming sessions can again derail the momentum," the analyst said.



Shares of 350 companies were traded. At the end of the day, 280 stocks closed higher, 58 declined while 12 remained unchanged.

Overall, trading volumes rose to 140.8 million shares compared with Monday's tally of 88.5 million. The value of shares traded during the day was Rs7.2 billion.

Fauji Cement (XD) was the volume leader with 13.9 million shares, gaining Rs1.1 to close at Rs25.71. It was followed by Pak Elektron (XD) with 7.4 million shares, gaining Rs1.62 to close at Rs37.44 and TRG Pakistan with 6.7 million shares, gaining Rs1.24 to close at Rs27.41.

Foreign institutional investors were net sellers of Rs1.36 billion worth of shares during the trading session, according to data compiled by the National Clearing Company of Pakistan.