Index up 27.59 points

A positive trend continued on the Karachi shares market on Wednesday with KSE-100 index gaining another 27.59 points to close at the level of 12,483.34 points. The market opened on a positive note and the index hit 12,538.29 points intra-day high however, profit taking by local investors in late hours minimised the intra-day gains.
Trading activities also further improved, as the volumes at ready counter increased to 139.314 million shares, as compared to 137.378 million shares traded on Tuesday. The overall market capitalisation increased by Rs 5 billion to Rs 3.374 trillion. Out of the total 394 active scrips, 223 closed in negative and 144 in positive, while the value of 27 scrips remained unchanged.
Lotte Pakistan PTA was the volume leader with 47.527 million shares, however lost Re 0.50 to close at Rs 15.38. Pace Pak gained Re 0.22 to close at Rs 3.39 with 12.510 million shares. Fauji Fertiliser Bin Qasim declined by Re 0.75 to close at Rs 41.07 with 7.926 million shares. Nishat Power increased by Re 0.27 to close at Rs 17.88 with 5.569 million shares.
In the banking sector, NBP surged by Rs 1.47 to close at Rs 78.18 with 5.085 million shares, however Bank Al Falah and KASB Bank lost Re 0.03 and Re 0.17 to close at Rs 11.53 and Rs 1.60 with 3.793 million shares and 3.536 million shares, respectively. Azgard Nine lost Re 0.46 to close at Rs 11.48 with 4.207 million shares. Engro Corporation declined by Rs 2.72 to close at Rs 212.16 with 2.782 million shares.
Nestle Pakistan and Fazal Textile were the highest gainers increasing by Rs 84.32 and Rs 19.11 to close at Rs 3001.90 and Rs 403.93, respectively, while Siemens Pak and Rafhan Maize were the worst losers declining by Rs 41.00 and Rs 30.73 to close at Rs 1150.00 and Rs 2274.27, respectively.
Hasnain Asghar Ali at Aziz Fidahusein Co said that the positive opening, attained by low volume strength in various main board stocks did allow the index to manage green numbers, the driving force behind the early run-up was certainly the excitement linked to healthy announcements, both earnings and payouts, since decline has been the post result scenario in various main board stocks, wherein over healthy corporate results have failed to invite renewed buying interest, with the main board stocks at saturation levels, caution was therefore quite evident. Lotte Pakistan PTA singly contributed more than 30 percent of the total turnover.