Stocks edge up

The share market Friday ended higher with the KSE-100 index gaining 60 points to close at 39,529 points. The benchmark index moved both ways to hit the intraday high and low of 39,562 and 39,277 points. Trading turnover slid to 145 million shares the value of which declined to Rs 7.3 billion. Of the 319 scrips traded, 156 gained, 144 lost and 19 stayed unchanged in value. The market capital accumulated lower to Rs 7.88 trillion as foreign portfolio investment marked net buying of $735,772.
SNGPL led volumes with 24 million shares trading. The gas utility was traded at close at Rs 44.37. Other best performing stocks were K-Electric, TRG Pakistan, Agritech Limited, Silk Bank, SSGC, Pak Elektron, Dewan cement, TPL Trakker and PTCL. Futures trade rose to 97 million contracts from the previous 70 million. "Stocks closed higher led by leveraged scrips in cement, fertilisers and textile sector on speculations ahead of SBP Monetary Policy Statement," said Ahsan Mehanti of Arif Habib Corp.
Higher cotton prices, upbeat urea sales data, falling borrowing costs and speculations on likely revision in gas tariff of ailing SOEs played a catalytic role in record close at PSX, he said. Nabeel Haroon of JS Research said negativity prevailed during the most part of the trading session as the index lost value to make an intraday low of -190 points, as it was the last trading session for investor''s to rollover their July future positions.
"Investors came in to buy during the latter hours of the trade as the index recovered to close on a flat note (+0.2 percent)," he said. Fertiliser stocks gained on the back of dispatch numbers, released by NFDC, showing 41 percent MoM growth. Major gainers of the sector were FATIMA (+1.54 percent) and EFERT (+0.53 percent).
In cement, LUCK gained 1.57 percent on the back of material information disseminated in the market in which company announced its expansion for its Karachi plant by 1.25 million tons per annum with the investment of around $30 million. Investor interest was seen in both the gas utilities, as SNGP (+5 percent) and SSGC (+3.41 percent) gained to close in the green zone. "Moving forward, we see the result session will keep the investor''s interest alive in the market," said the analyst.