Karachi bourse Monday gained 262.96 points as the equity investors positively reacted to the federal finance minister’s approval to SECP proposals on the rationalisation of the Capital Gains Tax (CGT) that would now be paid without declaring the taxpayers’ source of income up to 2014. With benchmark KSE-100 index crossing the rare 12,000 mark, trading volumes at Karachi Stock Exchange hit, what the analysts said was a record, 230.138 million shares on the back of good news on the unpopular CGT.
According to Ahsan Mehanti, a senior analyst and director at Arif Habib Investments, the stocks closed bullish with record exchange volume after the federal minister approved all proposals submitted by the apex regulator during his visit to KSE on Saturday to resolve CGT issues. The proposals, he said, were regarding the relief on disclosure of source of funds, maintaining rate of the CGT, tax collection by the NCCPL, withdrawal of withholding taxes and relief in Margin Trading System margins.
The day saw KSE 100-share index climbing to 12,037.66 points against 11,774.68 points of Friday which too had seen the trading turnover jumping to a historic 178.424 million shares. At one point the index hit the intraday high of 12,070.89 points and then eased down to the intraday low of 11,774.68 points. “KSE-100 index managed to close above 12000 level on easing political outlook after memo scandal case central character Mansoor Ijaz refused to arrive in Pakistan and appear before the judicial commission,” said Mehanti.
Trading value rose to 7.647 billion compared to the previous Rs6.817 billion. The market capitalisation also finished higher at Rs3.123 trillion against Friday’s Rs3.056 trillion. The companies performed well as of the total 358 traded scrips, 221 gained, 61 lost and 76 remained unchanged.
KSE-30 index too finished in the green zone and gained 313.93 points at 11,221.38 against 10,907.45 points of the previous day. The recovery in global stocks, foreign interest in blue-chip scrips and renewed institutional interest on strong valuations were other factors that played a catalyst role in bullish sentiment in stock across the board at KSE, said Ahsan Mehanti. Jahangir Siddiqui Company was volume leader of the day counting 35.9 million of its shares traded with the opening and closing rates standing, respectively, at Rs5.55 and Rs6.49.
