Business

Market watch: Index rises with news of incoming funds

Benchmark KSE-100 index increases 235.78 points.

Our Correspondent October 13, 2014

KARACHI: Amid increasing multilateral interest as the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and World Bank plan to release funds for the country, the index consolidated its level over the 30,000-point mark.

At close, the Karachi Stock Exchange’s (KSE) benchmark 100-share index rose 0.78% or 235.78 points to end at 30,394.41.

Elixir Securities analyst Faisal Bilwani said Pakistan equities closed positive on a healthy turnover. “Index ignored losses in regional markets as news of the IMF likely releasing the $1.1-billion installment in December helped confidence.

“With hopes of improving macros, bets on political situation normalised and KSE100 pushed to test new recent highs. Despite disappointing oil stocks, financials continued to attract fresh flows.”

Bilwani said that there was no update on the OGDCL’s global depository shares as the court is due to decide the fate of the $800-million plus divestment. “The stock closed red on thin volumes.

“Meanwhile, cements gained on better local off-take and declining coal prices while textiles also witnessed active buying.”

JS Global analyst Ovais Ahsan said the banking sector was the main index driver with MCB Bank (+1.5%) and Habib Bank (+4.8%) gaining on expectation of record profitability and secondary offerings in the sector.

Trade volumes rose to 251 million shares compared to Friday’s tally of 230 million.

Shares of 406 companies were traded on Monday. Of these, 141 companies declined, 247 closed higher while 18 remained unchanged. The value of shares traded during the day was Rs10.2 billion.

The Ghani Automobile was the volume leader with 21.6 million shares, gaining Rs0.15 to close at Rs6.69. It was followed by Dewan Motors with 13 million shares, losing Rs0.04 to close at Rs9.76 and Media Times Limited with 10.1 million shares, gaining Rs0.38 to close at Rs2.71.

Foreign institutional investors were net sellers of Rs207 million worth of shares during the trading session, according to data compiled by the National Clearing Company of Pakistan Limited.

Published in The Express Tribune, October 14^th, 2014.

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