KARACHI – Profit taking was witnessed today at inflated levels despite inflation being revised downward to 15.68 percent on account of a reversal of the government’s decision to raise fuel prices, the KSE-100 index managed to close at 12,281 level, up 14 points with 143 million shares traded today.
Activity at local bourse remained range bound as market traverse to 12,346 in the early trading hours only to hit the intraday valley of 12,231 level. After recovery benchmark index finally closed under 12,300 level as benchmark contracted by 0.11 percent. The KSE 100 index closed at 12281.24 levels with the gain of 14.03 points while total volume stood at 122,321,331 along with the total value 9,180,497,512. KSE 30 index closed at 12014.57 with the gain of 65.60 points, while All Share index gained 7.37 to close at 8573.40 levels. A total of 194 scrips advanced, 197 declined and 28 were unchanged out of total 419 scrips.
SECP is expected to approve the long awaited leverage product (MTS) after the appointment of its remaining nominee directors, which will give the market much needed liquidity. Domestic investors focused on the purchase of banking and fertiliser scrips.
Investor participation witnessed an improvement as 141 million shares were traded during the day. Correction in index heavy OGDC and PPL pulled the index down, while advancements in banking sector scrip MCB, HBL and NBP furnished important support. Inflation for the month of December recorded at 15.46 percent on Year on Year owing to lower base affect and persistent supply side constraints.
KSE market capitalisation stood at Rs 3,324.88 billion, $38.79 billion, while KSE future volume stood at 6.10 million shares along with the future value of Rs 924.45 million. KSE future spread stood at 7.33 percent. Salman Vidhani, senior investment analyst at HMFS, said ‘we believe bullish mood in commodity prices may drive future advancements in the KSE, albeit with minor hiccups.’
