Market watch: Banking, cement stocks aid index’s 332-point gain

Benchmark 100-share index <br /> ends at 32,942.59.

KARACHI: Pakistan equities bounced back in style, touching 32,900 after days of low, on the back of renewed interest in select sectors.

The zero-tax proposal to the Ministry of Textile Industry brought in fresh capital as turnover remained healthy. The banking and cement sectors also performed well with news of ambitious targets set for the upcoming fiscal year providing some much-needed impetus.



At close on Wednesday, the Karachi Stock Exchange (KSE) benchmark 100-share index rose 1.02% or 332.24 points to end at 32842.59.

Elixir Securities analyst Sibtain Mustafa said textiles edged higher after the zero-tax proposal.

“Banking stocks held their recent lows and ended in green after street consensus on the sector’s willingness to extend infrastructure loans, which are likely to provide considerable deployment of liquidity along with a small probability of defaults,” he said.

The analyst expected the market to edge higher and categorised the budget as a likely ‘non-event’.

Meanwhile, an analyst at Topline Securities said that the government’s aggressive growth target and higher development outlay for the upcoming budget renewed investor interest as the market ended on a positive note.

Dollar appreciation against the yen regained investors’ interest in the auto sector, the report added. A higher PSDP allocation also led investors to take fresh positions in cements which rose by 1.6%. Cherat Cement (CHCC), Maple Leaf (MLCF) and Fecto Cement (FECTC) closed at their upper limit, it added.

Trade volumes heavily rose to 200 million shares compared to 98 million on Tuesday.

Shares of 360 companies were traded on Wednesday. Of these, 255 companies closed higher, 83 fell and 22 remained unchanged. The value of shares traded during the day was Rs10.8 billion.

Pak Elektron was the volume leader with 27 million shares, gaining Rs0.89 to close at Rs67.90. It was followed by Fauji Cement with 20.2 million shares, gaining Rs0.67 to close at Rs33.50 and Byco Petroleum with 13.9 million shares, gaining Rs0.91 to close at Rs13.82.



Foreign institutional investors were net sellers of Rs191 million worth of shares during the session, according to data compiled by the National Clearing Company of Pakistan.

Published in The Express Tribune, May 28^th,  2015.

Like Business on Facebook, follow @TribuneBiz on Twitter to stay informed and join in the conversation.