Bulls dominated the Karachi stock market on Tuesday as the KSE 100-share index gained 143.08 points. The day saw the index closing at a 1.05 percent increase at 13,799.12 points against 13, 656.04 points on Tuesday. Pakistani stocks closed higher on investor speculations ahead of the year-end closing, said, at Arif Habib Investments Limited Director Ahsan Mehanti.
On Wednesday, the trading volumes at the ready-counter were recorded higher at 94.364 million shares against 57.989 million shares the previous day. The trading value increased to Rs 2.815 billion compared to Rs 2.005 billion in the previous session. The intraday high and low stood at 13,825.30 and 13,625.07 points respectively. Market capitalisation increased to Rs 3.518 trillion from Rs 3.484 trillion a day earlier. Of the total 365 traded scrips, 164 gained, 123 lost and 78 finished unchanged.
The free-float KSE-30 index also gained 154.10 points to close at 11, 933.77 points against the previous 11, 779.67 points. Bank Islami Pakistan was the day’s volume leader, counting its traded shares at 10.241 million with the opening and closing rates standing at Rs 9.22 and Rs 9.35 respectively, followed by Bank Al-Falah, P.T.C.L.A, Azgard Nine and Jahangir Siddiqui Company with turnovers of 6.838 million, 6.767 million, 6.665 million and 5.573 million shares respectively. According to analysts, institutional support in blue-chip stocks across the board played a catalytic role in creating bullish sentiments despite concerns about the security situation in the city and uncertainty in global stocks and commodities due to the prevailing euro-zone debt crises. On the futures market, the turnover fell to 18.038 million against 21.391 million shares on Tuesday. Rafhan Maize XD and Nestle Pakistan Limited, up by Rs 117.33 and Rs 66.71, led the price gainers while, UniLever Food and UniLever Pakistan Limited XD, down by Rs 75.00 and Rs 51.75 respectively, led the price losers.
