RECORDER REPORT: KSE close of day

KARACHI: The Karachi share market on Friday witnessed bullish trend with record high trades ahead of member meeting with the Federal Finance Minister Dr. Abdul Hafeez Shaikh and SECP Chairman Muhammad Ali on Saturday to apprise members on capital gains tax issues at the KSE, analysts said.

The market participants are expecting good news regarding CGT issues and it is expected that minister will announce acceptance of proposals forwarded by the SECP regarding CGT computation by NCCPL and amnesty of investors, they added.

The KSE-100 Index registered healthy increase of 259.09 points and closed at the level of 11,774.68 points.

The market opened on a bullish note and the index hit 11,882.70 points intra-day high, up 367.11 points. However, profit-taking in some stocks in the late hours minimized intra-day gains.

Trading activity improved tremendously on the back of aggressive buying mainly by local investors as the daily volume increased to 178.424 million shares as compared to 92.473 million shares traded on Thursday. Total market capitalization increased by Rs65 billion to Rs3.056 trillion. Of the total 340 scrips, 185 stocks closed in the positive and 69 in the negative while the value of 86 scrips remained unchanged.

Lafarge Pakistan was the volume leader with 27.736 million shares and gained Re0.05 to close at Rs2.06. Jahangir Siddiqui Co. inched up by Re0.39 to close at Rs5.55 with 14.494 million shares. Lotte Pakistan PTA lost Re0.04 to close at Rs9.95 with 8.648 million shares.

Fresh buying was seen in the fertilizer sector as Fauji Fertilizer Bin Qasim, Fauji Fertilizer Co. and Engro Corp. surged by Rs1.59, Rs6.76 and Rs3.16 to close at Rs48.10, Rs172.71 and Rs105.41 with 8.457 million shares, 5.869 million shares and 5.716 millions shares, respectively. However, Fatima Fertilizer Co. lost Re0.16 to close at Rs22.50 with 7.747 million shares.

DG Khan Cement increased by Re0.38 to close at Rs21.00 with 7.095 million shares. TRG Pakistan gained Re0.25 to close at Rs1.59 with 6.874 million shares. NBP surged by Re0.84 to close at Rs42.13 with 6.505 million shares.

Nestle Pakistan and Rafhan Maize were the highest gainers increasing by Rs121.31 and Rs47.22 to close at Rs3347.50 and Rs2600, respectively while Unilever Pak and Shahtaj Sugar were the worst losers declining by Rs58.20 and Rs3.55 to close at Rs5458.40 and Rs68.87, respectively.

Ahsan Mehanti at Arif Habib Corp. said that stocks closed bullish with record high trades ahead of member meeting with Federal Finance Minister and SECP chairman on Saturday to apprise members on the CGT issue at the KSE.

He said he hoped for good news regarding the CGT issues supported the market to cross intra-day high of over 11,880 with investor interest in stocks across the board.

Positive revision in domestic economic growth estimate to 4 percent, recovery in global stocks, foreign interest in blue-chip scrips and statement issued by the White House on US-Pakistan to work together to reset ties played a catalyst role in the bullish sentiment at the KSE, he added.