Market watch: Bull run continues at stock exchange

Market gains 33 points in mixed session.

KARACHI:

The stock market continued its surge upwards, setting yet another record for its historical high by the time of its closing on Wednesday. Volumes were markedly higher than in previous sessions, even as the index seesawed to close with moderated gains on a mixed bag of political and financial news.

The Karachi Stock Exchange’s (KSE) benchmark 100-share index gained 0.19% or 33.23 points to end at the 17,205.27 points level. Trade volumes mushroomed to 278 million shares, compared with Tuesday’s tally of 197 million shares. The value of shares traded during the day was Rs5.75 billion.

However: “The KSE-100 index struggled at new highs, as a mixed set of news on the political end kept activity limited; however, the results season limited downside,” observed Sibtain Mustafa, analyst at Elixir Securities.

“Pakistan Telecom ended on its upper circuit ... as expectations of higher termination minutes along with rumours of a decent cash dividend in its upcoming result kept interest alive,” reported Mustafa. “Later in the day, Fatima Fertilizer Company announced its 2012 earnings ... that were substantially below estimates, along with a surprise higher dividend of Rs2 per share that saved the stock. Overall, volumes picked up with talks of foreign institutional activity in blue chips, with the Oil and Gas Development Company, Pakistan State Oil and MCB Bank churning over a million shares each as locals opted to book profits. During the day, state institutions were reported to be net sellers as they took advantage of the uptick in volumes.”

Fatima Fertilizer announced profits 48% higher than the preceding years. However, analyst expectations had apparently been riding even higher.

Shares of 372 companies were traded on Wednesday. At the end of the day, 182 stocks closed higher, 138 declined, while 52 remained unchanged. Telecard was the volume leader with 43.03 million shares, gaining Rs0.59 to finish at Rs4.02. It was followed by Jahangir Siddiqui and Company with 21.85 million shares, gaining Rs0.76 to close at Rs16.76; and Pakistan Telecommunication Company with 21.16 million shares gaining Rs1.00 to close at Rs18.72.

Telecard and Wateen witnessed increased interest as investors are expecting extraordinary profits in their results announcements. Foreign institutional investors were net buyers of Rs 268.13 million, according to data maintained by the National Clearing Company of Pakistan Limited.

Published in The Express Tribune, January 31^st, 2013.