Tuesday saw the Karachi stock market closing higher as the well-performing second and third tier stakes led the bourse on the day of arson and violence in the volatile city. The benchmark, KSE 100-share index, gained 163 points and closed at 13,449.73 points compared to Monday’s 13,286.73 points.
KSE 30-share index also closed higher by 169.13 points and closed at 11,738.04 points against 11,586.91 points of the previous day. ”The stocks closed bullish led by second and third tier stocks,” viewed Ahsan Mehanti of Arif Habib Securities.
The senior stocks analyst attributed the day’s bullish activity to institutional interest in blue chip cement, oil and banking stocks on hopes for improvement in Pak-US relations after Prime Minister Gilani’s meeting with US President in Seoul for joint efforts on nuclear safety. “(The) concerns for law and order in the city and political noise affected the sentiments amid consolidation during the trading session ahead of reformed CGT regime implementation from April 1,” said Mehanti.
Despite a volatile day, the trading volumes at KSE set in the green zone to close at 352.78 million shares against 278.010 million shares of a day earlier. The trading value surged to Rs 5.475 billion from Monday’s Rs 3.708 billion.
The market capitalization climbed rose slightly to Rs 3.453 trillion against the previous Rs 3.410 trillion. Of the total 375 traded scrips, 204 appeared as gainers, 113 as losers and 58 remained unchanged. WorldCall Telecom was the day’s volume leader by counting its traded shares at 27.663 million. The company gained 0.22 paisas with its shares priced at Rs 3.08 in the opening and Rs 3.30 at the closing.
On the future contract, the trading volume increased to 21.48 million shares from 13.62 million shares of the previous session.
