Business

Market watch: Karachi bourse extends rally on interest in cement sector

Benchmark KSE-100 index rises 153 points.

Our Correspondent September 10, 2013

The cement sector remained in the limelight on expectation of a price hike of Rs5 per bag in the south region as most stocks ended the day on the upper circuit,” said Adeel Jafri of JS Global. PHOTO: FILE

KARACHI: Stock market continued its upward trend as the cement sector managed to maintain its momentum.

The Karachi Stock Exchange’s (KSE) benchmark 100-share index rose 0.67% or 153.33 points to end at 22,992.17 points.

“Moody’s positive comments on the economy after the recent IMF loan and ADB/IDB loan commitments helped confidence.” Said Fareesa Baig of Elixir Securities.

“The market inched up further, the highlight being an encore performance by cements that are bouncing back in style after hints that the marketing arrangement is intact. Lucky Cement (LUCK PA +5%), Maple Leaf(MLCF PA +5%), Cherat Cement (CHCC PA +5%), Kohat Cement (KOHC PA +5%) hit upper price circuits during the day along with DG Khan Cement (DGKC +4.4%) on the news of cement price increase by Rs5 per 50kg bag in the Southern region of the country.” Baig added.

“KSE-100 index went up 153 point or 0.7% with a decent volume of 265 million shares. The cement sector remained in the limelight on expectation of a price hike of Rs5 per bag in the south region as most stocks ended the day on the upper circuit,” said Adeel Jafri of JS Global. “On the other hand, Pakistan Petroleum (PPL), Attock Refinery (ATRL) and Pakistan State Oil (PSO) also continued to build on yesterday’s gain due to growth in sale numbers and high international oil price.” Jafri added

Trade volumes rose to 265 million shares compared with Monday’s tally of 212 million shares.

Shares of 369 companies were traded on Tuesday. At the end of the day 210 stocks closed higher, 107 declined while 52 remained unchanged. The value of shares traded during the day was Rs9.7 billion.

Fauji Cement was the volume leader with 42.7million shares gaining Rs0.73 to finish at Rs14.18. It was followed by PIA with 19.8 million shares losing Rs0.27 to close at Rs7.76 and DG Khan Cement with 18 million shares gaining Rs3.44 to close at Rs81.01.

Foreign institutional investors were net buyers of Rs380 million, according to data maintained by the National Clearing Company of Pakistan Limited.

Published in The Express Tribune, September 11^th, 2013.

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