Market watch: KSE-100's bullish trend cut short by unimpressive earnings

Benchmark index increases 360.79 points to settle at 39,631.91

KARACHI: The KSE-100 index continued to rally on Thursday as it gained nearly 800 points in intra-day trading and ended the second successive session in the black.

Buying euphoria over the Saudi Arabian relief package continued to boost sentiments and the index powered past 40,000 points. However, later investor confidence dipped as some companies reported unimpressive earnings.

Consequently, selling pressure emerged which dragged the index down. Habib Bank from the financial sector dampened the mood while DG Khan Cement also contributed to the negative performance.

At the end of trading, the benchmark KSE 100-share Index recorded an increase of 360.79 points or 0.92% to settle at 39,631.91.

Elixir Securities' analyst Murtaza Jafar said investors remained upbeat during the day. "The trading started on a positive note as the wider market opened gap up with the benchmark index gaining as much as 798 points in intra-day trading," he said.



The index, however, could not sustain the bullish momentum and settled with trimmed gains on the back of reported foreign selling in financial and energy stocks, the analyst said.

The market's downturn was led by Habib Bank (-4.36%) as its financial result was considerably below street consensus due to higher impairment on investments, more-than-expected surge in administrative expenses due to the closure of New York branch and possible additional accrual of pension expenses.

Meanwhile, DG Khan Cement (+2.95%) announced 1QFY19 earnings per share (EPS) of Rs0.95, down 85% year-on-year - the first major miss compared to expectations in the cement sector.

"Going forward, we see 40,200 points as the near-term resistance while all eyes will be focused on the PM's visit to China, starting from November 2," Jafar added.



Overall, trading volumes increased to 343.9 million shares compared with Wednesday's tally of 333.6 million. The value of shares traded during the day was Rs13.3 billion.

Shares of 406 companies were traded. At the end of the day, 226 stocks closed higher, 164 declined and 16 remained unchanged.

The Bank of Punjab was the volume leader with 25.5 million shares, gaining Rs0.17 to close at Rs11.96. It was followed by Lotte Chemical with 24.5 million shares, with no price change to close at Rs19.22 and K-Electric Limited with 23.4 million shares, losing Rs0.19 to close at Rs5.81.

Foreign institutional investors were net buyers of Rs45.3 million worth of shares during the trading session, according to data compiled by the National Clearing Company of Pakistan.