KSE index gains 37 points

Upsurge in banking stocks on the first day of new week helped the index to maintain the winning streak following the central bank's decision to enhance lenders' investment limit in equity market. The market opened on an extremely upbeat note on the back of the SBP circular that enhanced the banks' limit for investment in the equity market.
At the outset the KSE-100 index made 9004 points intra-day high. Stocks depicted positive gains under the lead of banking scrips (NBP, MCB), fuel and energy (OGDC, POL, PPL) and cement (D G Khan, Lucky). Nonetheless, tremendous profit-taking was witnessed at these levels with the index making 141 points intra-day correction to the 8864 points level.
Overall, KSE-100 managed to show 37 points gain to 8901 points. However, trading volumes remained low to 300 million shares as compared to 344 million shares recorded on last trading day.
An analyst from Live Securities said that PTCL and PSO were badly battered, respectively declining 2.5 percent and 1.3 percent. In PTCL, no development has so far been announced with respect to its take-over by Etisalat. PSO remained under pressure on rumours of lacklustre quarterly earnings.
OGDC and POL surged 2.1 percent and 3.1 percent, respectively, on expectations of positive first quarter financial results. PPL made Rs 214.90 intra-day high, though the entire gains were wiped off later.
The banking and cement sectors depicted mixed trends. Banking players, NBP and MCB, rose 1.5 percent and 0.6 percent and respectively closed Rs 3.40 and Rs 3.20 lower than their intra-day highs.
On the other hand, BoP closed limit-up. In cement, Lucky closed at its upper circuit level while D G Khan declined Rs 0.40.
"We maintain our cautious stance on the market in view of the forthcoming results season that normally results in profit-taking and the large build-up of leverage in the futures market", he said.
An analyst from Atlas Investment Bank said that fuelled by momentum of last week's 319 points gain, the market opened on a positive note with fresh buying seen in the beginning of the day. This was owing to positive news from SBP to raise the exposure limit for banks.
Consequently, almost all banking scrips moved in green zone, a few touching upper limits. Cement sector was also activated that contributed well towards the index. At one stage, the market crossed 9000 level. Later on, this positive pattern proved to be short-lived and took up abrupt profit taking by prominent investors. At the end, the market closed at 8900.90 level.
POL was the major gainer of the day, in terms of value, touching Rs 428 with the net gain of Rs13.00. PTCL witnessed selling pressure and declined Rs 1.70 towards the end of the day.
In all, 322 companies were traded, where 150 closed in positive. Hasnain Asghar form Aziz Fidahusein said that, technically, the inability of the index to trade above its resistance of 8990-8996 forced it to undergo an adjustment of 110 points. Closing above 8903-8910 is, therefore, essential for the index to regenerate a bull-run.
It is, therefore, recommended to opt for trading in stocks having growth potential while availability of the main stocks trading at comparatively low PE can be looked for placement, while stocks trading at high PE can be swapped with second-tier stocks of the sector.