As expected, the Karachi share market reacted positively to the Saturday's interest rate cut by the central bank and rallied to a record high Monday. The KSE 100-share index closed at 34,466.53 points to add 440 points or 1.29 percent to Friday's 34,026.59 points.
"The market welcomed a 100bps policy rate cut by the State Bank of Pakistan," said JS analyst Ovais Ahsan. The monetary easing, he said, propelled the benchmark index into uncharted territory of 24,587.96 points, the intraday high. The offshore investors did a net buying of $7.81 million during the day.
The trading volume grew to 362 million shares from 227 million of last week's last session. The shares traded valued up to Rs 20.62 billion compared to the previous Rs 13.6 billion. In all, 396 stocks changed hands, of which 235 appreciated, 140 depreciated and 21 stayed unchanged. The market capital also rose to Rs 7.81 trillion from Rs 7.74 trillion.
The day's volume leader was K-Electric although it lost 22 paisa on each of its 36.4 million shares traded today. Other best performers were Pak Elektron (22.3 million), Jahangir Siddiqui Company (14.4 million), Maple Leaf Cement (14.2 million), Fauji Cement (12.9 million), Bank of Punjab (11.8 million), Lotte Chemical (11.3 million), Engro Fertilizer (10.6 million), Lafarge Pakistan (8.76 million) and Engro Corporation (8.72 million).
The turnover on futures market shot up to 76 million shares from 27 million Friday. Analyst Ashen Mehanti said the day's bull-run amid higher trades was led by the leveraged stocks in fertilizer, textile and cement sectors. Expected resolution to recent fuel shortage issues likely to benefit the second-tier Oil Marketing Companies and oil refineries and speculations ahead of major earning announcements were the day's catalysts.
Ovais of JS Research said the highly-leveraged Engro Corporation was the major beneficiary of interest rate cut. It gained 4.86 percent. Major gainer in banking stocks was MCB Bank, the largest holder of Pakistan Investment Bonds, with 1.2 percent growth.Mehanti observed that the oil stocks being under pressure after the US WTI Crude oil dipped to a six-year low of $44 per barrel.
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