Market watch: Bourse gains 100 points amid better volumes

‘High-profile meetings on low volumes spark investor interest’.

KARACHI:

The stock market continued its march upwards on Tuesday primarily due to renewed hopes that the upcoming budget may have some positives for a trigger-starved capital market.

The Karachi Stock Exchange’s (KSE) benchmark 100-share index gained 0.83 per cent or 100 points to end at 12,130.58 points.

High-profile meetings between stock market representatives and finance and tax officials over the past two days concentrating on increasing volumes and more listings have revived optimism, said Elixir Securities equity dealer Sibtain Mustafa.

Besides, there are strong indications that the government may exempt investors from the capital gains tax for a further three years until volumes return to the market, added Mustafa.

Trade volumes increased but still stood at a dismal level of 61 million shares compared with Monday’s tally of 40 million shares. Average daily volumes in the same month last year stood at 101 million shares.

The exploration and production sector remained in the limelight with Pakistan Petroleum Limited leading the pack by jumping 1.5 per cent followed by Oil and Gas Development Company, up 1.1 per cent and Pakistan Oilfields, gaining 0.7 per cent.

Fertiliser stocks also remained highly sought after due to increase in fertiliser prices. Fauji Fertiliser Company gained one per cent with decent volumes, while Engro jumped 0.8 per cent.

Pakistan State Oil, which was trading at relatively low multiples, attracted some fresh buying, edging up one per cent over expectations of better earnings and payouts in its fiscal 2011 result announcement, said analysts. The value of shares traded during the day was Rs2.42 billion.

NIB Bank was the volume leader with 9.28 million shares, losing Rs0.04 to finish at Rs1.5. It was followed by Byco Petroleum with 6.48 million shares, gaining Rs0.99 to close at Rs9.14 and Jahangir Siddiqui and Company with 6.41 million shares, firming Rs0.34 to close at Rs7.51.

Published in The Express Tribune, May 25^th, 2011.