PSX sets new record high

Pakistan Stock Exchange (PSX) witnessed another bullish session Monday and the benchmark KSE-100 index, for the first time in its history, crossed 43,700 psychological level to close at a new high of 43,739.97 points, with a healthy gain of 469.07 points.
Trading activity however reduced as the daily trading volumes at the ready counter decreased to 345.467 million shares as compared to 374.959 million shares traded Friday. The market capitalisation increased by Rs 79 billion to Rs 8.867 trillion. Out of total 417 active scrips, 213 closed in positive, 186 in negative while the value of 18 stocks remained unchanged.
Azgard Nine was the volume leader with 27.132 million shares, however it lost Rs 0.43 to close at Rs 9.21 followed by NIB Bank that gained Rs 0.07 to close at Rs 2.22 with 22.343 million shares. WorldCall Telecom closed at Rs 3.13, down Rs 0.06 with 11.575 million shares.
Wyeth Pak and Khyber Tobacco were the top gainers with Rs 59.04 and Rs 43.75, respectively to close at Rs 4,348.00 and Rs 1,174.00. Rafhan Maize and Philip Morris Pak were the top losers with Rs 148.00 and Rs 107.50, respectively to close at Rs 7,790.00 and Rs 2,132.50.
An analyst at Global Securities said the market gave a bullish start, up by 82 points during the opening bell and remained on the positive side throughout, closing at the level of 43740 points, up 1.08 percent. Most of the rally came from the E&P sector where OGDC (4.93%), PPL (3.69%), POL (3.81%) and MARI (3.18%) contributed 90 points, 55 points, 36 points and 15 points respectively, surging the index by 196 points in aggregation, possibly due to foreign buying in the sector over increase in international oil prices. Uptick was also witnessed in the banking and cement sector as each sector contributed 103 points and 52 points towards the index, respectively.
Ahsan Mehanti at Arif Habib Corporation said that the index closed on new high level led by oil, cement and fertilisers scrips on strong earnings outlook. He said surge in global crude prices above $52/barrel, reports on higher urea, cement sales for November 2016 and upbeat data on CPI Inflation for November 2016 played a catalytic role in the record close at PSX.