The Karachi Stock Exchange (KSE) has achieved another milestone on Friday and the benchmark KSE-100 index closed well above 16,000 historic level at 16,101.55 points, with healthy increase of 139.18 points. The market capitalisation also increased to recorded level of Rs 4.013 trillion, up Rs 33 billion from previous day''s Rs 3.98 trillion.
The market opened on strong positive note on the back of both local and foreign investors support and the index hit 16,107.38 points intra-day high level. Cement sector led the rally while fresh buying was seen in almost all sectors and the index remained in green throughout the session. Trading activities also improved significantly as the volumes at ready counter increased to 191.494 million shares on the back of active participation of both local and foreign investors as compared to 189.19 million shares traded on Thursday. Of the total 351 active stocks, 182 closed in positive and 145 in negative while the value of 24 stocks remained unchanged.
"Another new high was seen at Karachi bourse where index for the first time in history closed above the 16,000 points mark", Samar Iqbal at Topline Securities said. "After the release of inflation number for the month of October both individual and institutional investors took fresh positions in all leading stocks. As they believe lower inflation will result in further easing in monetary policy. Medium and small sized cement stocks remained in the lime light amid better expectation of above than expected profitability due to decline in interest rate."
Cement sector led the rally, as Fauji Cement and Dewan Cement were the volumes leaders with 49.093 million shares and 9.643 million shares and gained Re 0.50 and Re 0.22 to close at Rs 6.94 and Rs 5.33 respectively. In the other cement sector stocks, Maple Leaf Cement and Lafarge Pakistan inched up by Re 0.22 and Re 0.05 to close at Rs 10.35 and Rs 5.53 with 7.284 million shares and 5.945 million shares respectively.
Fatima Fertilizer Co increased by Re 0.55 to close at Rs 25.76 with 8.478 million shares. Pace (Pak) Limited inched up by Re 0.13 to close at Rs 3.04 with 8.392 million shares. Nishat Mills surged by Rs 1.1 to close at Rs 62.32 with 5.921 million shares. Bank Al Falah gained Re 0.18 to close at Rs 15.29 with 5.342 million shares. Azgard Nine lost Re 0.15 to close at Rs 6.98 with 5.304 million shares. Engro Foods increased by Rs 1.40 to close at Rs 72.12 with 4.953 million shares.
Unilever Pak and Island Textile were the top gainers increased by Rs 475.3 and Rs 20.1 to close at Rs 9985.3 and Rs 422.11 respectively, while Bata (Pak) Limited and Pak Gem & Chemical were the top losers declining by Rs 74.25 and Rs 9.89 to close at Rs 1410.75 and Rs 187.97 respectively.
Ahsan Mehanti at Arif Habib Corporation said KSE-100 Index witnessed highest ever close amid higher trades after CPI Inflation for October 2012 stood at 7.66 percent raising expectations for rate cut by SBP in policy announcement due next month. He said the higher global stocks and commodities, renewed foreign interest in oil stocks on strong valuations played a catalyst role in bullish sentiments despite concerns for security issues in the city and political crises in Balochistan province. The falling rupee dollar parity ahead of repayments to IMF loans due this month and higher import bills affected the sentiments at KSE, he added.
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