KSE index gains 50 points

The share market on Tuesday opened on a positive note and hit the intra-day high of 10437.51 points. Volatility was the salient feature of the day where index moved both ways. Profit booking, especially in banking and cement stocks, minimised the day's gains to 10336.11 points intra-day low.
Bulls' advance faced mild resistance from the bears. Therefore, KSE-100 index could gain only 50 points, breaching the 10,400 level to 10,401.13 at the close. Investors evinced interest in purchasing of almost all scrips, which were at attractive levels.
Analysts said that the day's turnover had increased remarkably to 254.794 million shares as compared to 211.826 million shares of Monday. Of the stocks traded, 151 scrips declined and 125 scrips advanced while the value of 52 scrips remained unchanged. The market capitalisation enhanced by Rs 13 billion to Rs 2.918 trillion.
Tanveer Abid from Live Securities said that OGDC and PPL were the prominent players of the day, gaining 2.2 percent and 2.5 percent to close at Rs 141.45 and Rs 246.95, respectively, with healthy volumes. Together, they contributed 69 points to the total index's surge. On the other hand, PSO closed Rs 2.00 lower while POL closed almost breakeven at Rs 341.50. Cement scrips showed a mixed trend with D G Khan Cement increasing by 0.8 percent to Rs 98.85 while Fauji Cement and Maple Leaf Cement depicted respective declined at 2.1 percent and 1.5 percent to close at Rs 23.25 and Rs 32.25.
Among banking scrips, Picic Bank closed limit down at Rs 30.70 as its board meeting was delayed while MCB and Faysal Bank posted respective declines to Rs 225.20 and rs. 61.20. On the other hand, NBP managed to close in the green despite profit taking in the scrip. FFBL closed 2.7 percent lower from its day's high. Volumes in the ready market were 20 percent higher to 255 million shares compared to 212 million shares on Monday.
Hettish Karmani from Atlas Capital Market said that KSE-100 index remained under the grip of volatility whereby the index made and intra-day high and low of 10437.51 and 10336.11 respectively to close at 10402 level. No major activity was seen as investors preferred to square their positions at peak.
Once again, E&P sector was the most active sector of the day as OGDCL and PPL remained on the higher side while POL witnessed a range bound movement. As a result, OGDCL contributed heavily in the total gains of the index by 53 points followed by PPL by 16 points.
However, cement and banking sectors failed to attract investors' attention as all major scrips in both sectors plunged towards the end of the day. The trading volumes remained high at 255 million shares, revealing a 20 percent jump over the last session's turnover of 212 million shares. Surprisingly, power sector gained momentarily as Hubco, JPGL, SEPCO and KESC ended positive while Kapco faced stiff selling pressure.
Ahsan Mehnati, Chief Executive Officer at Shahzad Chamdia Securities said that the market remained volatile as the institutions make the exit through profit taking while the retail investors marked their entry into the market due to which the volumes remained relatively higher. The oil scrips determined the direction of the market which ultimately closed up 50 points.