Market watch: KSE-100 ends with trimmed gains after over 600-point increase

Benchmark index finishes 133.95 points higher to settle at 39,586.76

KARACHI: The KSE-100 ended with trimmed gains on Wednesday after bulls had earlier helped the benchmark-100 share index cross the 40,000-point level for a brief period.

An over 600-point increase was reduced to 134 as investors opted to book intra-day profits amid persistence of political uncertainty ahead of the general elections on July 25.

At close on Wednesday, the KSE-100 finished with an increase of 133.95 points or 0.34% to settle at 39,586.76.

Elixir Securities' Murtaza Jafar said the index briefly tested the 40,000 level amid thin volumes.

"Major activity was witnessed in cements and select financials while interest in the remaining key sectors remained limited likely due to sharp sell-off by foreigners on Tuesday," said Jafar. "The volumes chart was mostly dominated by retail names. Highlight of the day was Engro Corp (ENGRO +3.38%) that closed higher after the company announced improvement in its long term credit rating from AA (Double A) to AA+ (Double A plus) by the local rating agency.



"Moving forward, we expect consolidation near 40,000 with investors likely taking a cautious stance until the political and electoral noise settles down," he added.

Overall, trading volumes decreased to 128.4 million shares compared with Tuesday's tally of 167.8 million. The value of shares traded during the day was Rs5.98 billion.

Shares of 344 companies were traded. At the end of the day, 181 stocks closed higher, 151 declined while 12 remained unchanged.

Fauji Foods Ltd was the volume leader with 8.2 million shares, losing Rs1.65 to close at Rs31.48. It was followed by Pak Elektron with 6.6 million shares, losing Rs0.25 to close at Rs32.9 and Bank of Punjab with 5.3 million shares, gaining Rs0.31 to close at Rs11.54.

Foreign institutional investors were net sellers of Rs747.7 million worth of shares during the trading session, according to data compiled by the National Clearing Company of Pakistan.