Business

Market watch: Index opens on a high

Benchmark KSE-100 index rises 308.77 points.

Our Correspondent June 30, 2014

KARACHI: Led by the successful sale of Pakistan Petroleum Limited (PPL) shares, the index ended the first day of the week on a high.

The Karachi Stock Exchange’s (KSE) benchmark 100-share index rose 1.05% or 308.77 points to end at 29,652.53.

Elixir Securities analyst Sibtain Mustafa said institutional investors showed excitement. “Institutional investors jumped on board on excitement post successful divestment of government holding in PPL, +2.9% that managed to hit strike price of Rs219 per share, 6.8% higher than floor price and 0.37% above the day’s closing price. IMF clearing loan installment worth $55.9mn also helped confidence.”

“KSE100 witnessed a slow start on the first day of Ramazan with the trading session being relatively smaller, the index soon gained pace after PPL +2.9% and Oil and Gas Development Corporation (OGDC) +2.7% drove index to recent highs on FII buy interest.

“Engro Corp (ENGRO) -4.5% closed negative on reported local institutional selling while Lucky Cement (LUCK) +5% closed on its upper price limit after it was upgraded at a foreign broker with a target of Rs421 per share.”

Trade volumes rose to 156 million shares compared with Friday’s tally of 146 million shares.

Shares of 321 companies were traded on Monday. At the end of the day, 131 stocks closed higher, 167 declined while 23 remained unchanged. The value of shares traded during the day was Rs8.4 billion.

Arif Habib Corp was the volume leader with 16 million shares, gaining Rs0.71 to finish at Rs27.84. It was followed by Sui Southern Gas Company with 14.9 million shares, gaining Rs1.17 to close at Rs36.66 and Bank of Punjab with 11.6 million shares, gaining Rs0.17 to close at Rs9.10.

Foreign institutional investors were net buyers of Rs849 million during the trade session, according to data maintained by the National Clearing Company of Pakistan Limited.

Published in The Express Tribune, July 1^st, 2014.

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