Market watch: Stock tries regaining momentum

Benchmark KSE-100 index rises 49 points.

KARACHI: The stock regained some of its vitality after the recent correction and attempted to push up with some success. The index rose in the first half of the day, but late day selling dampened the sentiment, as the market fell back from its mid-day high but still closed up its starting point.

The Karachi Stock Exchange’s (KSE) benchmark 100-share index rose 0.18% or 49.22 points to end at 27,064.34.

“Equities resumed their course after a minor correction yesterday to test its highs near 27,200” said Muhammad Sibtain Mustafa of Elixir Securities.

“Cements rallied up on expectation of higher local dispatches growth. However, morning gains surrendered to late selling with institutions opting to book gains ahead of future counters rollover.



“The market has performed 6.2% month-to-date on local and foreign flows but the recent run has outplayed fundamentals and concerns on current account can likely play a correction” Mustafa added.

“We saw extended volatility in market today where mix sentiment was observed amongst investors” said Fahad Ali of JS Global.

“The sugar sector continued to perform as well. In fertiliser sector, Fauji Fertilizer and Fatima Fertilizer were better performers as compared to Engro Fertilizer, as the rumour mill is rife with the speculations that Fauji is going to court regarding allotment of gas to Engro at 0.70 cents” Ali added.

Trade volumes rose to 399 million shares compared with Wednesday’s tally of 383 million shares.

Shares of 428 companies were traded on Wednesday. At the end of the day, 227 stocks closed higher, 188 declined while 13 remained unchanged. The value of shares traded during the day was Rs12.667 billion.



Lafarge Pakistan was the volume leader with 37.1 million shares gaining Rs0.69 to finish at Rs11.09. It was followed by Fauji Cement with 20.9 million shares gaining Rs0.2 to close at Rs16.37 and Faysal Bank with 20.3 million shares gaining Rs0.59 to close at Rs13.99.

Foreign institutional investors were net buyers of Rs769 million, according to data maintained by the National Clearing Company of Pakistan Limited.

Published in The Express Tribune, January 24^th, 2014.

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