Stock market gains the most in ten weeks

KARACHI: The stock market shot up 297 points, the highest gain recorded in ten weeks, on news of an emergency meeting called by the Securities Exchange and Commission of Pakistan (SECP) to discuss the launch of the margin trading system.

The Karachi Stock Exch-ange’s (KSE) benchmark 100-share index surged 3.12 percent or 296.6 points on Tuesday to end at 9,813.1 level.

Local investors’ interest rose all over the board after news about the meeting, said AKD Securities technical analyst Qasim Anwar. The market may touch the 10,300 point level if the upward trend continues on Wednesday, he added.

Pakistan State Oil remained the star performer, gaining the maximum limit of five per cent on a day that witnessed volumes more than double of the preceding day.

Trade volumes sprinted to a 3-week high of 81.6 million shares compared with Monday’s tally of 37 million shares.

DG Khan Cement, Pakistan Telecommunication Company Limited (PTCL) and Nishat Mills Limited also hit their respective upper circuit breakers over fresh local buying, according to JS Global Capital.

Shares in Oil Gas Development Company and Pakistan Petroleum Limited gained 4.5 per cent and 2.6 per cent, respectively on the back of market talk of foreign institutional interest whereas in the fertiliser sector, Engro led the gains by jumping 4.7 per cent.

Shares of 357 companies were traded on Tuesday. At the end of the day 228 stocks closed higher, 109 declined while 20 remained unchanged. The value of shares traded during the day was Rs4.16 billion.

Lotte Pakistan was the volume leader with 8.3 million shares gaining Rs0.34 to finish at Rs8.38. It was followed by Arif Habib Securities with 6.7 million shares increasing Rs0.96 to close at Rs5.76 and PTCL with 5.8 million shares gaining to the upper limit of Re1 to close at Rs18.7.

Published in The Express Tribune, September 1^st, 2010.