The Karachi stock market kept breaking previous records on Tuesday with the benchmark index climbing to a new high on the back of, what market observers said, higher activity on strong valuations after record payout and earning announcement by the National Bank of Pakistan.
“The bullish activity witnessed leading the KSE-100 index to a record close amid higher activity on strong valuations after record payout and earning announcement by the NBP,” viewed Ashen Mehanti, a director at Arif Habib Securities. The day saw the benchmark KSE 100-share index gaining 46.03 points to close at record 13,324.34 points against 13,278.31 points of Monday.
“The KSE 100 index again managed to sustain above the identified pivot level,” viewed Abdul Azeem of InvestCap. The index hit the intraday high and low of 13,363.34 points and 13,261.78 points. The total traded shares at the ready-counter were counted at 250.514 million shares against the record 295.138 million shares of the previous session. The trading value stood at Rs7.692 billion compared to Monday’s Rs8.120 billion.
“The turnover for the day was also encouraging. However, the index is now reaching the nearest closing area of 13,375 points levels,” Azeem said. The market capital swelled to Rs3.454 trillion from the previous Rs3.441 trillion. Of the total 367 traded scrips, 154 gained, 125 lost while 88 remained unchanged.
The turnover in future contracts remained down and slightly decreased to 16.931 million shares against 17.021 million shares of last day. National Bank of Pakistan topped the volumes leaders’ list by counting its traded shares at 40.61 million shares each priced at Rs53.82 in the opening and Rs54.95 in the closing.
“Retail and institutional support witnessed ahead of reformed CGT regime implementation from April1 in blue chip banking, oil and fertiliser stocks on resumption of gas supplies in fertiliser sector, easing circular debt concerns in power sector post major earning announcements at KSE,” said Mehanti. This, he said, was despite “concerns current account deficit on rising global commodities.”
