Market watch: Bourse starts new year with significant gains

Benchmark KSE-100 index <br /> rises 349 points.

KARACHI: The stock market closed the first day of the new year with substantial gains, rallying on a lower-than-expected inflation reading for December that clocked up 4.3% year-on-year.

A technical glitch marred the excitement and stopped trading twice, however, the exchange delayed its closure for the day to make up for the lost time.



At the beginning of 2015, the Karachi Stock Exchange (KSE) benchmark 100-share index rose 1.09% or 349.07 points to end at 32,480.35.

Elixir Securities analyst Faisal Bilwani said as expected Engro Corp (+5%), along with Engro Fertilizers (+5%) attracted attention and hit their upper price limits because of the earnings outlook.

“Meanwhile, cement shares further gained on lower inflation, better-than-expected off-take and bets of mega infrastructure projects,” he said. Lucky Cement (+2.8%), Maple Leaf Cement (+5%) and DG Khan Cement (+4.3%) were the notable gainers.

United Bank Limited (-1.1%) along with Bank Alfalah (-1.15%) ended in the red on selling by domestic investors, the analyst said.

“Stocks are expected to test new record highs as macros along with earnings keep the momentum strong and we see profit-taking and volatility near 33,000.”

Trade volumes rose to 230 million shares compared to 202 million on Wednesday.

Shares of 349 companies were traded. Of these, 95 companies declined, 234 closed higher and 20 remained unchanged. The value of shares traded during the day was Rs12.4 billion.

Lafarge Pak was the volume leader with 19.1 million shares, gaining Rs0.53 to close at Rs17.88. It was followed by Maple Leaf Cement with 17.9 million shares, gaining Rs2.21 to close at Rs46.46 and Jahangir Siddiqui and Company Limited with 16.4 million shares, gaining Rs0.79 to close at Rs15.33.



Foreign institutional investors were net sellers of Rs316 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, January 2^nd,  2015.

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