KARACHI: The sale of British petroleum (BP) assets to United Energy Group (UEG) for $775 million stirred the markets, as it raised the profile of the energy sector with its value likely to rise.
Rumors of imminent revaluation of all oil stocks rocked the market, which reached a new high of 11,786 points, to close 113 points above yesterday’s closing. With Ashura holidays raising security fears and leading on to a long weekend, investors had been expected to play safe, evident from initial volumes of 120 million shares, down 16 percent from yesterday. Major movers were PPL, POL and Engro, which touched new peaks and higher volumes. The bourse charged ahead heedlessly, adding over 113 points before the end the last trading session of the short week. The KSE 100 index closed at a level of 1786.09 after gaining 113.45 points.
KSE 30 index closed at 11,314.24 after gaining 98.25 points, while the all share index closed at 8,212.28 after gaining 73.18 points. Total volume stood at 87,769,351 and total value stood at 6,742,353,623. 187 scrips advanced, 199 declined and 18 remain unchanged out of a total of 404 scrips.
Energy companies fueled the rally. PPL climbed in an aggressive manner and hit the upper cap, while other energy scrips followed the trend. The 12,000 level now seems to be a distinct possibility.
The banking sector was a weak performer, except for HBL which is likely to breach the Rs 120 barrier. The stock market paid scant attention to the political drama as the JUI-F broke from the ruling collation, with the MQM likely to follow suite.
Bilal Asif at HMFS said ‘we believe if dominant scrips perform in the second half of the month, the year end index return will be higher.’
KSE market capitalisation stood at Rs 3,204.51 billion while KSE Future Volume stood at 4.02 million shares. The KSE Future value stood at Rs 605.22 million and KSE future spread was 7.29 percent.
