KSE gains 12 points

Karachi share market opened on a positive note and the benchmark KSE-100 index hit 7,269.54 points intra-day high level on Wednesday. However, the news about Lahore bomb blast affected the investors'' sentiment negatively and the index went into the negative zone at 7,164.53 points intra-day low level. The index finally managed to close in the positive at 7,188.84 points with a net gain of 11.95 points on the back of late buying in some fundamentally strong stocks.
Trading volume at the ready counter increased to 141.252 million shares as compared to 127.845 million shares traded on Tuesday. The overall market capitalisation increased by Rs 3 billion to Rs 2.130 trillion. Out of the total 328 active scrips, 182 closed in the negative and 139 in the positive while the value of 7 scrips remained unchanged. Jahangir Siddiqui Co was the volume leader with 25.042 million shares and gained Rs 1.08 to close at Rs 26.76.
In the E&P sector, OGDC increased by Rs 1.68 to close at Rs 78.21 with 17.307 million shares. However, POL declined by Rs 1.33 to close at Rs 157.54 with 4.608 million shares. Arif Habib Sec surged by Rs 1.48 to close at Rs 31.24 with 11.440 million shares. Pak PTA closed at Rs 3.42, up by Re. 0.03 with 10.829 million shares. Lucky Cement lost Re. 0.46 to close at Rs 56.81 with 5.523 million shares. MCB Bank declined by Rs 2.15 to close at Rs 160.31 with 5.477 million shares. Hub Power Co closed at Rs 26.04 with a net loss of Re. 0.54 with 4.790 million shares.
In the fertiliser sector, Fauji Fertiliser Bin Qasim gained Re. 0.11 to close at Rs 17.48 with 3.865 million shares. However Engro Chemical lost Rs 2.27 to close at Rs 138.85 with 3.627 million shares. Treet Corporation and Dreamworld were the highest gainers and gained Rs 11.28 and Rs 9.63 to close at Rs 237.00 and Rs 202.30 respectively while Wyeth Pak and Lakson Tobacco were the worst losers and lost Rs 9.50 and Rs 8.09 to close at Rs 1291.00 and Rs 180.26 respectively.
Muhammad Sohail, a leading analyst and CEO of Topline Securities said that despite the Lahore tragic incident, the market found support at lower levels. Some foreign buying coupled with buying interest by locals in fundamentally strong shares, provided support and the market closed in the positive.