Market watch: Index closes merrily in the black

Benchmark 100-share index gains 371.18 points.

KARACHI: Equities closed positive on Wednesday amid volatile trading with turnover seeing a noticeable improvement as more than Rs11.4 billion worth of shares exchanged hands – the highest since mid-February.

After a dismal start to the week, which saw the index shedding over a 1,000 points, bulls bounced back on Tuesday and carried on their momentum as the Karachi Stock Exchange (KSE)-100 Index closed at 30,605.05 on Wednesday, registering an increase of 1.23% or 371.18 points.



Elixir Securities analyst Muhammad Zain said stocks interestingly opened negative, however, momentum from Tuesday’s close pushed the benchmark to test the 31,000-mark — a massive achievement considering market fell down near 28,500 on Monday.

“Intra-day volatility kept interest in the wider markets alive,” said Zain. “Meanwhile, the inflation reading of 2.49% for March against April’s 3.24% supported broader market to close near 30,600.

“Reported foreign selling in index names and the news of an arrest in London of a person with links to a political party in Karachi was a good enough excuse for profit bookers to take advantage of sharp gains in the last two sessions of the day.”

The analyst predicted volatile trading with foreign flows continuing to remain the key driver, while local institutional buying, primarily by banks and high-net-worth individuals, will help limit downside.



Meanwhile, JS Global analyst Arhum Ghous recommended caution in taking intraday positions and a long-term perspective should be adapted, sticking to fundamentally-strong scripts.

Trade volumes fell to 202 million shares compared to 260 million on Tuesday.

Shares of 350 companies were traded on Wednesday. Of these, 133 companies declined, 202 closed higher and 15 remained unchanged. The value of shares traded during the day was Rs14.3 billion.

The Bank of Punjab was the volume leader with 22.1 million shares, gaining Rs0.04 to close at Rs8.09. It was followed by Pak Elektron with 22 million shares, gaining Rs1.76 to close at Rs46.20 and K-Electric with 14.3 million shares, losing Rs0.08 to close at Rs7.03.

Foreign institutional investors were net sellers of Rs571 million worth of shares during the session, according to data maintained by the National Clearing Company of Pakistan.

Published in The Express Tribune, April 2^nd, 2015.

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