KARACHI – The local bourse exhibited bullish activity, as the benchmark 100 index closed 76.10 points up, spurred by institutional and foreign investors’ interest. The KSE-100 index closed at 11,885.64 points against 11,809.54 points, a day earlier.
The intraday high and low was 11,890.63 and 11,812.06 points respectively, while the day’s turnover was recorded at 80.50 million against Thursday’s 68.52 million. Market capitalisation also remained upward, at Rs 3.164 trillion, compared to Rs 3.147 trillion a day earlier.
Pace Pakistan Limited, with share trading of 18.72 million and a 0.53-paisa per share gain, topped the list of volume leaders and closed at Rs 3.67. The future market also remained robust and closed at 3.43 million shares against the previous 3.28 million, exhibiting a decline of 153 million shares over the previous day.
“Bullish activity was seen due to institutional and foreign interest after the US embassy congratulated Pak-India leadership on improving diplomatic bilateral ties,” viewed Ahsan Mehanti, Director Arif Habib Investments. Commenting on the day’s trading, Mehanti said that despite security concerns in the country; factors like rising local prices of cement, oil and fertilisers, higher banking spreads and positive investor sentiment ahead of quarter end earning announcements played a catalysts role in the positive activity at KSE.
Husnain Asghar Ali of Aziz Fida Husien and Company said consolidation was continued amid swapping and switching at the local bourse. Analysts stated that cautious consolidation continued at the local bourse, while front line stocks from oil and gas exploration and fertiliser sector faced renewed sell-off. “Accumulation, in some, by local corporate participations did restrict the intra-day decline, while the benchmark moved in positive, yet narrow range,” he said.
He said that “With limited triggers, market men are likely to continue with low volume trades in large cap and dividend yielding stocks, along with various low priced stocks likely to witness strategic and fundamental improvement. Caution, therefore, stays the call mainly in stocks trading in expensive category and likely to feel the heat of higher petroleum prices and interest rate as a chain reaction, along with those facing a tough time due to increasing input cost and declining export and local sales.”
LSE recovers volume
LAHORE – The Lahore Stock Exchange (LSE) closed in green zone marked a recovery in the volume on Friday. The LSE 25-shares added 8.38 points to close at 3,350.94 against its opening at 3,342.56 levels. Out of total 102 active scrips, 29 went up, 21 went down and 52 closed without any change in their opening values.
Volume of the market remained 3.03 million shares, which was 0.56 million shares more than Thursday’s turnover of 2.46 million shares. Pace Pakistan, with a turnover of 0.7 million shares, was the volume leader and it added Rs 0.52 to close at Rs 3.67 against its opening at Rs 3.15.
Millat Tractors was the major gainer as it added Rs 14.51 to close at Rs 527 against its opening at Rs 512.49. Services Industries, with a turnover of one share, was the major loser as it lost Rs 8.01 to close at Rs 170 against its opening at Rs 178.01.
