The stocks closed higher at the Karachi bourse Monday amid what the analysts said trading in narrow range with lower trades after the Supreme Court handed the two-page charge-sheet to the Prime Minister in the NRO implementation case. First day of the week saw the benchmark 100-share index gaining 18.40 points or 0.15 per cent to close at 12,250.00 points against 12,231.60 points of Friday last week.
“Stocks closed higher at KSE amid trading in narrow range with lower trades after Supreme Court bench framed charge against PM Gilani for non compliance on NRO implementation,” said Ahsan Mehanti, a senior analyst and director at Arif Habib Investments.
The trading volumes at the ready-counter, however, closed higher at 116.090 million shares against 107.14 million shares of the previous day. The trading value was recorded low at 2.315 billion compared to Rs2.915 billion of the previous session. The index hit the intraday high and low of 12,287.51 points and 12,156.14 points, respectively.
The market capitalisation upped slightly to 3.191 trillion from Friday’s Rs3.185 trillion. Of the total 328 traded scrips, 154 gained, 91 lost and 83 remained unchanged. The KSE-30 index, which was recomposed on Monday with Bank Alfalah replacing the Nishat Chunian Limited, set in the green zone gaining 37.92 points to close at 11,453.12 points against the previous 11,415.20 points. “Institutional support on strong valuations in banking, fertilizer and oil stock helped the index recover from its day low despite uncertain political outlook and fall in rupee value,” said Mehanti.
The investors remained hopeful ahead of formal notification on Capital Gains Tax issues at the KSE and Monetary Policy announcement by the central bank on February 11 was according to investors’ expectations, the analyst added. Jahangir Siddiqui Company appeared as a volume leader of the day and counted its traded shares at 28.468 million with the opening and closing rates, respectively, standing at Rs7.47 and Rs8.47.
Other scrips that did well on the day include, Azgard Nine, JS Bank. Fauji Cement, Engro Foods, Cherat Cement, Descon Oxychem, Pak Elektron Limited, National Bank of Pakistan and Lafarge Pakistan whose traded shares accounted, respectively, fir 18.9 million, 6.1 million, 6.0 million, 3.8 million, 3.8 million, 3.5 million, 3.4 million, 2.8 million and 2.6 million shares. The turnover in the future however posted a negative trend and declined to 4.139 million shares as against 6.024 million shares of Friday.
