Market Watch: Stock market rises on positive triggers

KSE’s benchmark 100-share index gains 83 points.

KARACHI: The stock market rose on Thursday on some positive triggers amid stable volumes.

The Karachi Stock Exchange’s (KSE) benchmark 100-share index gained 0.73 per cent or 83.08 points to end at the 11,435.67 point level.

The Securities and Exchange Commission of Pakistan announcement of individual financiers in the Margin Trading System (MTS) proved to provide much needed impetus for locals to join buying spree led by institutional investors, said JS Global Capital analyst Murtaza Jafar.

Trade volumes fell slightly to 44 million shares compared with Wednesday’s tally of 46 million shares.

NIB Bank stood as volume leader today after a news report published in The Express Tribune that Tamasek Holding intends to sell their majority stake in the bank to Industrial Commercial Bank of China, Jafar added.

NIB Bank was the volume leader with 8.7 million shares gaining Rs0.23 to finish at Rs1.72. It was followed by WorldCall Telecom with 4.47 million shares increasing Rs0.11 to close at Rs0.97 and Fauji Fertilizer Bin Qasim with 3.32 million shares losing Rs1.47 to close at Rs44.19.

Foreign institutional investors (FII) activity was unheard due to Christmas Holiday season while locals were rumoured buyers in fertiliser stocks, said Jafar. FII were buyers of Rs13 and sellers of Rs55 million worth of shares, according to data maintained by the National Clearing Company of Pakistan Limited.

Notably, fertilisers continued with their recent trend of being volume generator after Fauji Fertilizer Bin Qasim broke its 200-day moving average on news of international fertiliser DAP prices plunging by more than $110 per ton alone in December.

Shares of 321 companies were traded on Thursday. At the end of the day 133 stocks closed higher, 87 declined while 101 remained unchanged. The value of shares traded during the day was Rs1.18 billion.

Published in The Express Tribune, December 30^th, 2011.