Index gains 78.25 points

Amid political tension in the country, investors at Karachi Stock Exchange preferred to remain on the sidelines throughout last week. The KSE-100 index closed at 18,714.28 after gaining 78.25 points while average volumes plunged by 33 percent WoW to 142 million shares.
Commenting on the market performance, Naveed Tehsin, an analyst at JS Global said investors at the local bourse remained on the sidelines throughout the week. Low investor confidence can be ascertained through thin trading volumes which plunged by 33 percent WoW to 142 million shares.
He said that ambiguity on various fronts pushed KSE-100 index to close flat at the 18,714 level, up 0.4 percent WoW. On the macro front, the State Bank in its Monetary Policy Statement kept the discount rate unchanged at 9.5 percent, whereas Asian Development Bank (ADB) released a report during the week in which it stated that Pakistan''s GDP growth rate is likely to decelerate to 3.6 percent in FY13 owing to the prevailing energy crisis in the country, he added.
The key news highlights during the week were: OGDC awarded contract for the development of KPD TAY Field Development Project Phase II. The project is expected to deliver 150mmcfd of gas, 3,600bpd of oil and 290mtd of LPG, taking cumulative production from KPD TAY to 250mmcfd of gas, 5,100bpd oil and 410mtd of LPG. OGDC has a 100 percent stake in KPD and a 77.5 percent stake in TAY.
SNGPL resumed its gas supply to Engro Fertiliser as part of its monthly rotational basis gas allocation to fertiliser plants. This will result in both Engro''s urea plants to run simultaneously, though at reduced loads.
HUBC demanded of the government to immediately release Rs19 billion out of the overdue amount of Narowal Power Plant to the company. This is likely to bridge the gap between demand and supply of power.
Weekly average volume witnessed a decrease of 32.6 percent to 141.80 million shares compared to 210.43 million a week earlier while the market capitalisation remained up by 0.3 percent to Rs4.601 trillion from Rs4.587 trillion.
Average daily value during last week remained under immense pressure. It witnessed a decrease of 38.9 percent to close at Rs4.75 billion compared to Rs7.78 billion a week earlier.
According to details of KSE sessions last week, despite the fact that "an all-time-high trend" continued at KSE, profit-taking was witnessed in many sectors on the first day of outgoing week. The KSE-100 index which opened in green-zone gained 17.03 points to close at an all-time-high level of 18,653.06 points against last 18,636.03 points.
The Karachi share market breached one more psychological barrier of 18,700 Tuesday due to investors'' optimistic approach regarding March quarter results. The benchmark-100 share index gained 60.55 points to close at 18,713.61 points against previous 18,653.06 points.
Despite breaching an all-time-high level, the local bourse remained lackluster for the major part of the day Wednesday where accumulation was seen in OGDC, MCB, PTCLA and others at lower level.
The benchmark-100 index remained slightly up by 9.74 points while the index closed again at an all-time-high level of 18,723.35 points against last 18,713.61 points.
Karachi bourse witnessed 13th consecutive bull-run on Thursday as the KSE-100 index gained 45.72 points to close again at an all-time high level of 18,764.55 points against 18,723.35 points.
And after 13 constant bull-run sessions, KSE witnessed technical correction due to profit-taking by investors on Friday. The benchmark index shed 50.27 points to close at 18,714.28 points against last 18,764.55 points.