Market Watch: Bourse rallies despite business shut-down in Karachi

Benchmark KSE-100 index jumps 163 points.

KARACHI: The bourse seemed keen to shrug off its recent lethargy on Tuesday, registering a sharp rise in an all-round rally despite reports of violence and shut-down of business in the country’s financial hub.

The Karachi Stock Exchange’s (KSE) benchmark 100-share index rose 1.23% or 163.00 points to end at the 13,449.73 point level.

Trade volumes swelled to 353 million shares compared with Monday’s tally of 278 million shares. The value of shares traded during the day was Rs5.48 billion.

According to JS Global Analyst Jawad Khan, cement stocks were at the forefront of investor interest after unconfirmed reports of an increase in cement prices by as much as Rs10 per 50 kilogramme bag circulated in the market. DG Khan Cement closed at its upper circuit breaker for the day (appreciating 5%) while Lucky Cement followed behind, jumping 2.9%.

According to Khan, banking stocks witnessed renewed interest as investors were hopeful of better first quarter results owing to low provisioning. National Bank closed near its upper limit over reports of foreign buying in its stock, while MCB Bank and UBL also gained 2.8% and 4.8% respectively. Lower volumes were witnessed in oil stocks, with Oil and Gas Development Company and Pakistan Petroleum Limited gaining a mere 1.3% and 1.0% amidst diminished investor interest.

Shares of 377 companies were traded on Tuesday. WorldCall Telecom was the volume leader with 27.66 million shares gaining Rs0.22 to finish at Rs3.30. It was followed by Azgard Nine with 26.45 million shares, gaining a whopping 11.27% or Rs1.00 to close at Rs9.87 and Fauji Cement with 24.28 million shares gaining Rs0.25 to close at Rs5.55.

Foreign institutional investors were buyers of Rs127.12 million and sellers of Rs137.98 million, according to data maintained by the National Clearing Company of Pakistan Limited.

Published in The Express Tribune, March 28^th, 2012.