Market watch: Bourse wanders around neutral line

KSE’s benchmark 100-share index crawls up 4 points.

KARACHI: Equities traded along the neutral line and closed range-bound on Wednesday with volumes concentrated in few select stocks.

The Karachi Stock Exchange’s (KSE) benchmark 100-share index rose marginally by 0.04 per cent or 4.25 points to end at 12,059.07 point level.

Index heavyweights like MCB Bank, Pakistan Petroleum and Oil and Gas Development Company witnessed selling that kept the benchmark index under pressure despite aggressive local buying in commodity driven stocks mainly fertilisers and refineries, said Elixir Securities equity dealer Sibtain Mustafa.

Session started off with Hub Power Company exchanging more than 4 million shares on screen as rumours of two banks shifting positions in the stock, said Mustafa.

Furthermore, market rumours suggest 140 million shares of Hubco were sold by one of the sponsors to a consortium of local institution at Rs40 per share, added Mustafa.

Trade volumes fell to 117.8 million shares compared with Tuesday’s tally of at 141.7 million shares.

Fertiliser DAP maker Fauji Fertilizer Bin Qasim charged up 2.2% on rumours of increase in local DAP prices by Rs400 per bag.

Financials that have lagged post rate cut announcement will likely see interest increasing in the coming days, however, foreign selling in MCB Bank and United Bank is keeping excitement under check.

Foreign institutional investors were net sellers of Rs45 million worth of shares, according to data maintained by the National Clearing Company of Pakistan Limited.

Pakistan Oilfields was also one of the movers with an upside of 1.1% as production enhances from Domail-1 field.

The value of shares traded during the day was Rs4.71 billion. Lotte Pakistan PTA was the volume leader with 31.73 million shares gaining Rs0.71 to finish at Rs12.89. It was followed by Fauji Fertilizer Bin Qasim with 9.6 million shares firming Rs0.86 to close at Rs62.14 and Hub Power Company with 8.44 million shares increasing Rs0.33 to close at Rs42.

Published in The Express Tribune, October 13^th, 2011.