Market watch: Equities close week on positive note

Index adds gains to hit yet another high.

KARACHI: Pakistani equities rounded off the week with a comparatively moderate rally in the final trading session on Friday. MCB Bank, which has recently turned heads as a favourite of foreign investors, took the cake again on Friday – with some analysts saying it single-handedly propped up the index and saved it from closing in the red following continued profit-taking in oil stocks.

“Fertiliser stocks also witnessed profit-taking after the news of a cut in gas supply from the Sui Northern Gas Pipelines network,” reported Topline Securities’ Senior Manager Equity Sales Samar Iqbal. “Volumes, however, declined [...] with major activity confined in mid-cap stocks.”



The Karachi Stock Exchange’s (KSE) benchmark 100-share index gained 0.37% or 82.26 points to end at the 22,358.96 points level. Trade volumes fell to 340 million shares, compared with Thursday’s tally of 463 million shares. The value of shares traded during the day was Rs10.61 billion.

Shares of 369 companies were traded on Friday. At the end of the day 184 stocks closed higher, 157 declined while 28 remained unchanged.

“Equities pared gains in the afternoon session, but closed the week on a positive note with banking giant MCB Bank (up 4.8%) pushing the KSE-100 index above 22,350 points,” reported Faisal Bilwani, analyst at Elixir Securities.

“Index-heavy Oil and Gas Development Company closed flat on the last day of trading SPOT T+1, while other oil sector scrips closed in the red on local selling,” he added. “Volumes were yet again led by small- and mid-caps, with Lotte Chemical (up 1.5%) leading the chart and gaining on expectation that the coming budget will likely bring a positive surprise for this PTA maker.”

Lotte Chemical was the volume leader with 23.78 million shares, gaining Rs0.13 to finish at Rs8.89. It was followed by Fatima Fertilizers with 23.35 million shares, gaining Rs0.73 to close at Rs26.06; and Bank of Punjab (rights issue) with 22.27 million shares, losing Rs0.07 to close at Rs4.89.



“Lagging fertiliser play Fatima Fertilizers (up 2.9%) gained on reported prop book and local institutional buying, while rumours of an upward revision in gas prices also helped confidence as Fatima Fertilizer remains immune, given fixed gas pricing,” Bilwani said.

Foreign institutional investors were net buyers of a modest Rs190.30 million worth of securities, according to data maintained by the National Clearing Company of Pakistan Limited.

Published in The Express Tribune, June 8^th, 2013.

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