Market watch: Index glides past 34,000 with ease

Benchmark KSE-100 index gains 340.67 points.

KARACHI: Backed by positive sentiment over oil and cement sectors and aided by the conclusion of by-elections that pacified, to an extent, political pressure, the benchmark-100 index continued its rally in the black to end higher for a fifth successive session.

The index ended over the 34,000-point barrier as optimism over earnings and gain in regional markets helped investors’ confidence. Reported foreign buying also helped the market rally as the index continued to ride on positive news flow.



At close on Monday, the benchmark 100-share index recorded a rise of 1.01% or 340.67 points to end at 34,183.85.

Elixir Securities, in its report, said Pakistan equities soared to settle above 34,000, after missing the levels for five weeks. “This was a result of optimism over earnings and gains in regional markets coupled with reported foreign buying that pushed index heavy oils and financials higher,” stated the report. “Moreover, Sunday’s by-election where ruling PML-N regained one National Assembly seat seems to have certainly helped ease the political noise.

“Contrary to market direction, cements were lower after Lucky Cement (LUCK,-1.60%) notified the exchanges on plans to expand production facilities in Northern Punjab.

“The move reignited fears of a possible price war, despite many analysts predicting limited negative impact given the likely surge in demand emanating from infrastructure development.”

Meanwhile, JS Global analyst Ahmed Saeed Khan said positivity continued at the bourse. “Positivity on Monday could be attributed to the exploration and production (E&P) and auto sector,” said Khan. “E&P sector rallied on the back of recovering crude oil prices that touched the $50 mark intraday, top performers in the sector today were Mari Petroleum (+4.20%), Pakistan Oilfields Limited (+3.90%) and Pakistan Petroleum Limited (+3.2%).

“Auto sales numbers for September clocked in today better than expected, resultantly investor’s interest was seen in the sector,” said Khan.

“Profit taking was witnessed in the cement sector, major laggards were Attock Cement Pakistan Limited (-1.2%) and LUCK (-1.6%).

Trade volumes decreased to 195 million shares compared with Friday’s tally of 248 million.

Shares of 395 companies were traded on Monday. At the end of the day, 206 stocks closed higher, 161 declined while 28 remained unchanged. The value of shares traded during the day was Rs13.1 billion.



K- Electric Limited was the volume leader with 23.3 million shares, gaining Rs0.14 to finish at Rs7.37. It was followed by TRG Pakistan Limited with 11.9 million shares, gaining Rs1.24 to close at Rs36.71 and Jahangir Siddqui and Company with 11.7 million shares, gaining Rs0.94 to close at Rs20.04.

Foreign institutional investors were net buyers of Rs181 million during the trade session, according to data maintained by the National Clearing Company of Pakistan Limited.

Published in The Express Tribune, October 13^th, 2015.

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