KSE-100 index climbs

The nomination of Shaukat Aziz as next prime minister sent positive signals to stock market investors as buying in cement, bank, gas and fuel sectors helped KSE-100 index to recover losses of past two weeks.
The KSE-100 witnessed 247 points, or 4.8 percent, rally during the week which was the biggest weekly rise after a gap of 10 months.
The news of current finance minister as next candidate for prime ministerial slot was the main reason for last week's positive trend. Shaukat Aziz is positively regarded in the investment community.
His selection indicated government intention to continue with economic reforms process.
This increase in share prices caused badla investment to increase also.
National Assembly elected Shujaat as new Leader of the house on Tuesday. The Government raised rates on Defence Saving Certificates by 19 basis points. The KSE reduced 'Laga' charges of Rs 3.75 per Rs 100,000 value to Rs 3.57 per Rs 100,000 activity.
PPL public offering price was officially announced at Rs 55 a share. The government expects to raise Rs 3.8-5.6 billion from this issue. SSGC announced that it had signed an agreement to avail syndicate financing amount of Rs 3 billion.
The KSE-100 Index witnessed a rise of 4.84 percent to close at 5352.70 on Friday. Average daily volumes also increased by 42.22 percent to 364.38 million shares.
Pak Services, Picoc, Lucky Cement, Soneri Bank, and Picic Commercial Bank were the major gainers while Shahtaj Sugar, Indus Motors, Pakistan Tobacco, Abbott Laboratories and Century Paper were major losers at KSE.
The week started on a positive note owing to investors' liking for Shaukat Aziz as Prime Minster with the expectation of stronger economic reforms and political stability, which pushed the index up by 3.4 percent on the first trading day of the week.
The market underwent minor correction due to the year-end factor on Tuesday. Bullish sentiment continued on Wednesday and the index recovered 0.3 percent. The buying waves got support from news of achieving revenue and exports target, which helped the index to cross the 5300 mark comfortably on the first trading day of the new FY.
The bullish spells continued for the third consecutive day and the index closed at 5,352.97 on Friday, thus increasing by 4.84 percent over last week's close of 5,102.22.
Buying wave is likely to push the index up during the next week while investors will look forward to the Centre for any news flow on political side. Speculations in oil and gas exploration sector are likely to continue during the week owing to the news on oil discoveries.
Traders expect increase in institutional activity, as the institutions would be rebuilding their investment portfolios for the new FY.
Quarterly and half-yearly results are also likely to start coming in during the next couple of weeks, which is also likely to increase activity.
Meanwhile retail investors will start sparing cash for PPL public offering. Dealers do not expect any major change in the market volume and badla rates. On a net basis, the continuation of neutral to positive consolidation is likely in the new week.
Analysts were of the view that the market has entered consolidation phase and may move in the range of 5250 to 5400 levels. Any positive and supporting news could help the market to cross 5500 level but it is difficult task and analysts and punters are waiting from the central bank's announcement on its monetary policy which is due on July 20.
However, as the support from the real investors has dropped considerably since last couple of weeks any untoward incident or law and order situation might erode shares values.