Market watch: Index’s run of closing in red ends

Benchmark KSE-100 index rises 278.14 points.

KARACHI: The stock market finally ended on a bullish note as some clarity emerged on foreign selling.

The Karachi Stock Exchange’s (KSE) benchmark 100-share index rose 1.06% or 278.14 points to end at 26,670.14.

“Leading the rise were oil names to the likes of Oil and Gas Development Company (OGDC PA +1.5%), Pakistan Oilfields (POL PA +1.8%) and Pakistan Petroleum Limited (PPL PA +0.75%) that gathered momentum from the onset after having shed 7.3%, 2.04% and 4.9% in the last three trading sessions respectively,” said Fareesa Baig of Elixir Securities.



“Financials also followed suit and gained strength with MCB Bank (MCB PA +1.2%), United Bank (UBL PA +1.8%), National Bank (NBP PA +2.5%) and Bank Al-Falah (BAFL PA +2.7%) among the top gainers for the day, while Lucky Cement (LUCK PA -0.5%) and DG Khan Cement (DGKC PA -0.2%) closed marginally negative pressured by reported institutional selling.

“Expect foreign institutional investors (FII) liquidity to be among the main drivers ahead, however, remain optimistic with the momentum expected to remain upbeat and we suggest investors to stay long in value plays especially energy and banks,” Fareesa concluded.

Meanwhile, according to JS Global Analyst Mujtaba Barakzai, investors breathed a sigh of relief after some clarity on foreign selling emerged. “It was feared a large foreign fund was on a selling spree; however, it was a much smaller fund that was liquidating its position at the KSE,” said Barakzai.

“IMF’s approval of release of $556m loan tranche also made the sentiments stay positive,” said Barakzai, concluding that Engro Fertilizer Limited went up 5% as gas prices remained unchanged for now.

Trade volumes rose to level of 111 million shares compared with Monday’s tally of 108 million.



Shares of 338 companies were traded on Tuesday. At the end of the day, 202 stocks closed higher, 113 declined while 23 remained unchanged. The value of shares traded during the day was Rs6.2 billion.

TRG Pakistan Limited was the volume leader with 11.2 million shares, losing Rs0.09 to finish at Rs14.08. It was followed by Engro Fertilizer Limited with 6.5 million shares, gaining Rs2.82 to close at Rs59.40 and Fauji Cement with 5.9 million shares, gaining Rs0.07 to close at Rs17.06

Foreign institutional investors were net sellers of Rs94 million, according to data maintained by the National Clearing Company of Pakistan Limited.

Published in The Express Tribune, March 26^th, 2014.

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