Market Watch: ‘Pro-business’ govt, foreign buying boost confidence

Benchmark KSE-100 index gains 230 points.

KARACHI: The Karachi bourse added a further 200 points to the index closing positive for the tenth consecutive trading session with activity on a ten-week high, bolstered by bullish sentiments in the wake of new “pro-business” political regime.

Moreover, unending foreign participation had blown a new sense of confidence in the market where most of the stocks rallied.

The Karachi Stock Exchange’s (KSE) benchmark 100-share index gained 1.14% or 229.8 points to end at the 20,474.62 point level. Trade volumes touched 300 million shares compared with Monday’s tally of 280 million shares.

This month, the market has already gained 9% amid expectations that economic activity will be revived once the new government, perceived to be pro-business, takes charge, said Samar Iqbal, head of equity sales at Topline Securities.

On the other hand, foreigners continued buying due to reduced political uncertainty, reported Mujtaba Barakzai, analyst at JS Global Capital.

The value of shares traded during the day was Rs9.76 billion.

The banking sector, particularly MCB Bank, has been on a roll as the newly elected government is expected to approach the International Monetary Fund for a bailout programme due to which investors expect the government to nudge the interest rates up.

MCB Bank has for the fourth successive day touched its upper lock and has climbed 27% in the last six sessions.

Pakistan Telecommunication Company also made a comeback on the news of a stay order on the international clearing house agreement courtesy of the Sindh High Court.

Pakistan State Oil also followed suit, gaining 5%, due to explicable expectations from the incoming government to resolve the circular debt issue, while Lucky Cement, which was seen slacking lately, got a chance to perform and closed up. On the contrary, Engro Corporation remained under pressure due to gas supply uncertainty for its fertiliser division, reported Fareesa Baig, analyst at Elixir Securities.

Bank of Punjab was the volume leader with 24.19 million shares gaining Re1 to finish at Rs11.31. It was followed by Bankislami Pakistan with 19.85 million shares gaining Rs0.58 to close at Rs6.79 and Pakistan Telecommunication Company with 19.35 million shares climbing Rs0.89 to close at Rs19.75.

Foreign institutional investors were net buyers of Rs651.93 million, according to data maintained by the National Clearing Company of Pakistan.

Published in The Express Tribune, May 15^th, 2013.

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