Market watch: Index ends marginally in the black

Benchmark KSE-100 index rises 26.18 points.

KARACHI: The index began the week on a positive note, ending in the black. However, stock remained range-bound with the rise mainly driven by foreign interest.

At close, the Karachi Stock Exchange (KSE) benchmark 100-share index rose 0.08% or 26.18 points to end at 32,757.79.

Elixir Securities analyst Faisal Bilwani said the index pared its morning gains after testing 32,850 earlier in the trading session.

“Engro Corp (ENGRO, +4.6%), after gaining 11.5% in the last three days, continued to defy gravity as locals build positions fueled by excitement on profits,” said Bilwani.



“Cements witnessed profit taking with DG Khan Cement (DGKC, -2.5%) and Lucky Cement (LUCK, -1%) ending the day negative while fertilisers were marginally up as Fatima Fertilizer (FATIMA, +1.75%) led volumes in the sector.

“Oils remained out of favour and closed red barring Oil and Gas Development Corporation (OGDC, +0.3%) that ended flat, as benchmark Persian Gulf Light traded at levels last seen in April of 2009.

“We see stocks to continue to trade volatile with turnover improving in days ahead as macros and earnings push benchmark to test 33k.”

Meanwhile, JS Global analyst Ovais Ahsan said the other star performer of the day was K-Electric +4.7% as the stock continued its performance with optimism derived from strong operational performance, new project initiations , and expectation of payouts to minority holders in the near future.

“Mari Petroleum +5.0% was also among the best performing stocks as the E&P company remained a speculator’s delight with not much public news backing its price action.”

Trade volumes rose to 329 million shares compared to 322 million on Friday.

Shares of 380 companies were traded on Monday, of these, 178 companies declined, 186 closed higher and 16 remained unchanged. The value of shares traded during the day was Rs16.8 billion.



K-Electric was the volume leader with 47.8 million shares, gaining Rs0.45 to close at Rs10.00. It was followed by Pak Elektron with 22.9 million shares, gaining Rs1.59 to close at Rs46.70 and Jahangir Siddiqui with 18 million shares, gaining Rs0.62 to close at Rs15.71.

Foreign institutional investors were net buyers of Rs288 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 6^th,  2015.

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