Market watch: Led by banks, index ends in black

Benchmark KSE-100 index gains 47.16 points.

KARACHI: Absence of triggers meant the stock market opened lacklustre and recorded a minute increase at the close of the trading session.

The Karachi Stock Exchange (KSE) benchmark 100-share index increased 0.15% or 47.16 points to end at 31,953.90 on Tuesday. Elixir Securities analyst Harris Ahmed Batla said the decline in international oil prices continued to dent oil stocks with Pakistan Oil Fields (POL PA -4.72%) nearly hitting lower price limit along with Oil and Gas Development Company (OGDC PA -2.23%) and Pakistan Petroleum Limited (PPL PA -1.72%).



“Morning news of a new drug price policy kept illiquid pharmaceuticals under pressure while cements continued to find institutional buying interest on lows of the day.

“Reported buying in financials ahead of the calendar year close kept banking stocks upbeat primarily Allied Bank Limited (ABL PA +2.8%), National Bank (NBP PA +2.79%) and MCB Bank (MCB PA +1.1%),” said Batla.

Meanwhile, JS Global analyst Muhammed Mobeen said bears dominated the market throughout the day but the bulls came through to close the market in the black.

“The leaders were mostly the food sector Murree Brewery (+5%), National Foods (+5%) and Engro Foods (+4.7%), while the laggards were the oil and pharmaceutical sector. Major negative movers included were Searle (-5%), Abbot Laboratories (-4.1%), GlaxoSmithKline (-3.7%), OGDC (-2.2%), PPL (-1.7%) and MARI (-3.3%),” he said.

Trade volumes fell to 189 million shares compared to 215 million on Monday.



Shares of 377 companies were traded on Tuesday. Of these, 155 companies declined, 190 closed higher and 32 remained unchanged. The value of shares traded during the day was Rs11.7 billion.

Maple Leaf Cement was the volume leader with 20.3 million shares, gaining Rs0.51 to close at Rs44.02. It was followed by the Bank of Punjab with 15.4 million shares, gaining Rs0.09 to close at Rs11.09 and Bank Al-Falah Limited with 10.1 million shares, gaining Rs0.67 to close at Rs34.02.

Foreign institutional investors were net buyers of Rs150 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, December 31^st,  2014.

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