Market watch: Index trades in narrow band, ends positive

Benchmark KSE-100 index gains 92.95 points

KARACHI: Pakistan equities closed marginally positive after an uneventful day saw trading in select stocks with the Karachi Stock Exchange (KSE)-100 Index swinging within a narrow band.

At close on Thursday, the benchmark 100-share index recorded a rise of 0.28% or 92.95 points to end at 33,469.15.



Elixir Securities, in its report, said stocks opened lower led by selling in index heavy Exploration and Production (E&Ps) as participants tracked the retreat in global crude.

“Cements edged up with Lucky Cement (LUCK +1.62%) and Dera Ghazi Khan Cement (DGKC +3.11%) being the highlight of the day, while Maple Leaf (MLCF +2.28%) and Fauji Cement (FFC +2.20%) were also up as investors remained optimistic on local off-take primarily from the economic corridor and related infrastructure projects,” he said.

“Fertilisers garnered attention after morning news of government concessions on urea prices.’

Meanwhile, JS Global analyst Saeed Ahmad Khan said intra-day recovery in global oil prices helped some stocks come out of the red, whereas major players remained under pressure, closing PSO, PPL and POL  at (-1.32%), (-1.76%) and (-1.96%) respectively.

“Cherry picking continued in the banking sector where three out of the big five banks were positive, while the top performer in the big 5 was MCB (+1.21%),” said Khan.

Abbasi Securities’ analyst Mohsen Siddiqui believed investors will continue their focus on value plays with increased interest in cement, power and auto sectors going forward.

Trade volumes rose to 179 million shares compared with Wednesday’s tally of 132 million.



Shares of 377 companies were traded on Thursday. At the end of the day, 234 stocks closed higher, 122 declined while 21 remained unchanged. The value of shares traded during the day was Rs9.8 billion.

Byco Petroleum was the volume leader with 27.2 million shares, gaining Rs0.59 to finish at Rs28.13. It was followed by Pak Elektron XD with 15.6 million shares, gaining Rs3.63 to close at Rs82.92 and TRG Pakistan Limited with 14.3 million shares, gaining Rs1.66 to close at Rs34.98.

Foreign institutional investors were net sellers of Rs290 million during the trade session, according to data maintained by the National Clearing Company of Pakistan Limited.

Published in The Express Tribune, October 9^th, 2015.

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