Market watch: Bullish activity helps index recover

Benchmark KSE-100 gains 412.20 points.

KARACHI:

Bullish activity continued as the bourse recovered with a gain of 412 points with value buying from institutions keeping the index-heavy stocks in the black. 

At close, the Karachi Stock Exchange benchmark 100-share index gained 1.45% or 412.20 points to end at 28,917.75.

“Low participation from investors and institutions side indicates that investors are concerned over political uncertainty in the country,” said Syed Faran Rizvi of JS Global.



Meanwhile, Elixir Securities analyst Faisal Bilwani said that weekend news flow over politics will guide the direction early next week. “However, fundamentals continue to remain intact and in absence of any serious incident during the ongoing protests and major outflow from foreign investors; we see the market to test 30,000 with financials and energy stocks leading.”

Trade volumes fell to 104 million shares compared with Wednesday’s tally of 133 million.

Shares of 322 companies were traded on Friday. Share prices of 65 companies declined, 238 closed higher while 19 remained unchanged at the end of the day. The value of shares traded during the day was Rs5.9 billion.



The Bank of Punjab was the volume leader with 9.9 million shares, gaining Rs0.36 to finish at Rs8.18. It was followed by Lafarge Pakistan with 6.3 million shares, gaining Rs0.06 to close at Rs15.58 and Maple Leaf Cement with 5.3 million shares, gaining Rs0.17 to close at R27.54.

Published in The Express Tribune, August 16^th, 2014.

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