The Karachi stocks market maintained a bullish trend on Wednesday and gained 26 points amid lower volumes. With the investors being mindful of the renewed Pak-US diplomatic tensions and new policy announcement by the central bank, the day witnessed the benchmark 100-sahre index gaining 25.88 points to close at 11,532.83 points. The index had closed at 11,506.95 points in the previous session.
“Stocks closed broadly higher amid lower volumes,” said Ahsan Mehanti, director at Arif Habib Investments. The intraday high and low was, respectively, recorded at 11,593.29 and 11,504.75 points. The trading volumes ended slightly higher and closed at 38.491 million shares compared to Tuesday’s 37.386 million shares.
The trading value, however, ended up in the red zone and contracted to Rs1.546 billion as against Rs2.176 billion on the previous day. Of the total 304 traded scrips, 125 advanced, 86 declined and 93 remained unchanged. The market capitalisation added some value and closed at Rs3.0 trillion compared to Rs2.99 trillion recorded on the stock market a day earlier. The KSE-30 index too set in the green zone and gained 35.52 points to close at 10, 800.24 points against the previous day’s 10,764.72 points. The index hit the intraday high and low of 10,869.83 and 10,763.55 points.
“Investors remained cautious ahead of SBP policy announcement today expected to ease in policy rate,” said Mehanti. The State Bank of Pakistan, however, announced to keep the interest rate static at 12 percent.
The analyst attributed the Wednesday’s bullish trend to recovery in global markets, renewed institutional support in banking, oil and fertiliser stocks on strong valuations saying these factors played a catalyst role in positive close at KSE.
Jahanigir Siddiqui Company appeared as volume leader of the day. The company counted its traded shares at 5.815 million with its share price closing higher at Rs5.83 after opening at Rs5.58.
Other best performers included Fatima Fertiliser Company, DG Khan Cement, PICIC Gro Fund, Fauji Fertiliser Bin Qasim, Arif Habib Co SD, Engro CorpSPOT, Fauji FertiliserXD, Japan Power and Lotte PakPTA. These scrips’ traded shares were counted, respectively, at 4.1 million, 3.1 million, 2.6 million, 1.8 million, 1.4 million, 1.1 million, 1.1 million, 1.1 million and 1.1 million shares.
The future market, however, registered an upset with the trading turnover sliding to 3.3 million shares compared to 5.019 million shares of the previous day. The scrips that gained numbered 87, those categorised as minus were 20 and only one remained unchanged. Engro-DEC continued to lead the companies with 0.671 million of its shares traded on the day
