Market watch: Market rounds off week adding moderate gains
Benchmark KSE-100 index climbs 55 points.
KARACHI:
The stock market rounded off the week with moderate gains on the last trading day, led higher by increased investor optimism for the textile, oil, cement and banking sectors.
“Consolidation continued amid hopes for a further cut in the State Bank’s policy rate on falling consumer price index inflation, and expected resumption of gas for the fertiliser sector,” reported Ahsan Mehanti, analyst at Arif Habib Corp. “Renewed institutional support on rising local cement prices and expectations for an easing security situation in the city played a catalyst role in bullish sentiments,” he added.
The Karachi Stock Exchange’s (KSE) benchmark 100-share index gained 0.34% or 54.67 points to end at the 16,197.74 points level. Trade volumes, however, were lower at 165 million shares, compared with Thursday’s tally of 236 million shares. Equity dealer Samar Iqbal, from Topline Securities, said that investors chose to remain at the sidelines over security concerns in the city.
The value of shares traded during the day was Rs3.81 billion. Foreign institutional investors were net buyers of Rs159.46 million, according to data maintained by the National Clearing Company of Pakistan Limited.
Shares of 361 companies were traded on Friday. At the end of the day 212 stocks closed higher, 109 declined while 40 remained unchanged. Analysts reported that most activity was confined to small and mid-cap stocks.
Fauji Cement was the volume leader with 17.62 million shares losing Rs0.09 to finish at Rs6.74. It was followed by Byco Petroleum with 17.06 million shares losing Rs0.11 to close at Rs9.59 and Jahangir Siddiqui & Company with 16.63 million shares gaining Rs0.39 to close at Rs16.96.
“Second and third [tier] cement [stocks] continue to churn higher volumes as retailers dominated volumes [sic],” reported Elixir Securities analyst Sibtain Mustafa. “Banks traded higher as year-end results, along with [the] possibility of a healthy payout, kept activity on the higher side.”
Published in The Express Tribune, November 17th, 2012.
The stock market rounded off the week with moderate gains on the last trading day, led higher by increased investor optimism for the textile, oil, cement and banking sectors.
“Consolidation continued amid hopes for a further cut in the State Bank’s policy rate on falling consumer price index inflation, and expected resumption of gas for the fertiliser sector,” reported Ahsan Mehanti, analyst at Arif Habib Corp. “Renewed institutional support on rising local cement prices and expectations for an easing security situation in the city played a catalyst role in bullish sentiments,” he added.
The Karachi Stock Exchange’s (KSE) benchmark 100-share index gained 0.34% or 54.67 points to end at the 16,197.74 points level. Trade volumes, however, were lower at 165 million shares, compared with Thursday’s tally of 236 million shares. Equity dealer Samar Iqbal, from Topline Securities, said that investors chose to remain at the sidelines over security concerns in the city.
The value of shares traded during the day was Rs3.81 billion. Foreign institutional investors were net buyers of Rs159.46 million, according to data maintained by the National Clearing Company of Pakistan Limited.
Shares of 361 companies were traded on Friday. At the end of the day 212 stocks closed higher, 109 declined while 40 remained unchanged. Analysts reported that most activity was confined to small and mid-cap stocks.
Fauji Cement was the volume leader with 17.62 million shares losing Rs0.09 to finish at Rs6.74. It was followed by Byco Petroleum with 17.06 million shares losing Rs0.11 to close at Rs9.59 and Jahangir Siddiqui & Company with 16.63 million shares gaining Rs0.39 to close at Rs16.96.
“Second and third [tier] cement [stocks] continue to churn higher volumes as retailers dominated volumes [sic],” reported Elixir Securities analyst Sibtain Mustafa. “Banks traded higher as year-end results, along with [the] possibility of a healthy payout, kept activity on the higher side.”
Published in The Express Tribune, November 17th, 2012.