Market watch: KSE closes the week with a bang

The bullish trend at local bourse continues on the last day of the trading week.

KARACHI: The bullish trend at the local bourse continued on the last day of the trading week on the back of higher crude oil prices in the international market and continued foreign buying, according to analysts.

The benchmark KSE-100 index swelled 63.11 points, or 0.56 per cent, to close at 11,406.66 points.

Trade volumes also raced to 202 million shares, up 48 per cent from the 135 million shares traded on Thursday.

“A buying spree was seen across the board, while foreign activity was confined to the banking sector. The refinery sector remained under pressure as the government decision of slashing margins has curtailed earnings,” added Samar Iqbal from Topline Securities.

Shares of 362 companies were traded on Friday. At the end of the day, 220 stocks closed higher, 125 declined and 17 remained unchanged. The value of shares traded was recorded at Rs8.05 billion, a Rs2 billion increase from the preceding day.

Lotte Pakistan led the volumes board yet again with a trade volume of 32.85 million shares. The company’s stock rose Rs0.24 to close at Rs12.83 per share.

Nishat Mills Limited followed with 16.4 million shares traded, closing at Rs62.38 after gaining Rs0.4 per share.

DG Khan Cement (DGKC), which came in third on the volume leaders board, recorded an increase of more than two per cent to close at Rs31.05 per share.

“Local institutions were aggressive buyers in banking and cement stocks with most activity in National Bank of Pakistan (NBP), United Bank Limited (UBL) and DGKC on expectations of healthier results,” commented Mohammad Rameez from Elixir Securities. He added that cement demand was expected to increase due to commencement of construction activity in the Middle East after Qatar was awarded the right to host the 2022 FIFA World Cup. The Lucky Cement stock also went up by Rs0.79 to close at Rs76.46.

Published in The Express Tribune, December 4^th, 2010.