KSE up 36 points despite trouble

KARACHI: The local bourse ended the week in the green despite the fact that Karachi wore a deserted look on Friday after a senior leader of the Muttahida Qaumi Movement (MQM), a party that enjoys considerable support in the city, was assassinated in London late Thursday.

Even though volumes remained low, news of trade concessions from the European Union (EU) and reports of deregulation in pricing of petroleum products propped up the market, according to analysts.

The Karachi Stock Exchange (KSE) benchmark 100-share index gained 0.36 per cent, or 35.83 points, to close at 10,052.97 points.

“In line with expectation, textile stocks gained on news of EU market access – with particular interest in Nishat Mills,” according to Mohammad Rameez from Elixir Securities.

“Positive activity was witnessed in the earnings announcement session on expectation for deregulation of petroleum product prices of oil refineries next week,” commented Ahsan Mehanti, a director at Arif Habib Investments.

A little more than 66.5 million shares were traded during the day, considerably less than the turnover of 90.2 million and 99.94 million shares recorded on Thursday and Wednesday, respectively.

The market witnessed lower volumes during the morning as the city remained tense. “Closing hour, however, saw a bull-run,” wrote Hasnain Asghar Ali, Sales and Research Head at Aziz Fidahusein and Company, in a market report.

Shares of 348 companies were traded on Friday. At the end of the day, 201 stocks closed higher, 122 declined and 25 remained unchanged. The value of shares traded during the day was Rs2.95 billion.

“Institutional influx in main board stocks allowed the value of shares traded to stay on higher side,” added Ali.

Nishat Power Limited led the market with a trade volume of 7.67 million shares. The scrip gained almost four per cent to close at Rs10.96 per share.

Nishat Mills followed with a turnover of approximately 6.1 million shares. The company’s stock gained Rs2.33 to end trading at Rs48.95.

Dera Ghazi Khan Cement (DGKC) came in third in terms of trade volume. “DGKC announced earnings that were below market expectations, however, it closed positive on hopes of rebound in earnings going forward,” commented Mohammad Rameez. The company announced a 55 per cent decline in net profit for fiscal 2010.

Published in The Express Tribune, September 18^th, 2010.