Pakistan Stock Exchange (PSX) Monday witnessed a bullish trend on the back of fresh buying by local and foreign investors. The benchmark KSE-100 index rose by 288.30 points to close at 48,697.65 points. The market opened on a positive note and the index hit 48,755.45 points intra-day high. However, the index could not sustain this level due to profit-taking in select stocks at the fag end.
Trading activity however remained thin as daily trading volumes decreased to 134.748 million shares against 212.866 million shares traded Friday. The market capitalization increased by Rs 34 billion to Rs 9.565 trillion. Out of total 391 active scrips, 233 closed in positive, 146 in negative while the value of 12 stocks remained unchanged. Foreign investors were net buyers of shares worth $0.4 million.
K-Electric was the volume leader with 12.318 million shares. However, it lost Re 0.13 to close at Rs 9.03 followed by Aisha Steel Mills that increased by Rs 1.05 to close at Rs 23.36 with 10.383 million shares. Bank of Punjab gained Rs 0.16 to close at Rs 16.27 with 9.281 million shares. Wyeth Pak and Bata Pak were the top gainers with Rs 129.85 and Rs 110.00, respectively to close at Rs 2,726.97 and Rs 4,200.00. Philip Morris Pak and Rafhan Maize were the top losers with Rs 117.83 and Rs 50.00, respectively to close at Rs 2,239.20 and Rs 7,600.00.
Arhum Ghous at JS Global Capital said the market opened on a positive note and followed its previous trend as the index traded at intraday high of 348 points to finally close at 48,698 level (up 288 points). Top volume leaders of the bourse were KEL (down 1.42 percent), BOP (up 0.99 percent) and ASL (up 4.71 percent). POL (down 1.79 percent) closed in the red as international oil prices struggled near the lowest level since the end of November on rising U.S. shale production. PRL (up 4.92 percent), in the Refinery sector, closed near its upper cap. Overall rally was witnessed in the banking sector where big banks tossed the index to close in green. HBL (up 1.75 percent), NBP (up 1.23 percent) and MCB (up 0.95 percent) were the top movers of the aforementioned sector. SNGP, in the gas utility, closed 0.84 percent higher than its last close on the back of news that the government is planning to seek fund allocation in the upcoming federal budget to finance new gas supply schemes.
An analyst at Topline Securities said that KSE-100 witnessed another choppy, thinly-participated session. The second half saw interest skewed towards blue-chip names, with contribution to the upside coming from HBL (up 1.8 percent), HUBC (up 1.7 percent), SEARL (up 3.0 percent), MARI (up 3.7 percent) and MCB (up 1.0 percent), which added combined 161 points and helped the market close up 288 points. ?Lalpir (LPL) and Pakgen Power (PKGP) announced 2016 results, with both IPP''s declaring a Rs 1.0/share final cash dividend. Retail favourites KEL, ASL and BOP garnered investor interest, with the scrips whipping up combined turnover of 32 million shares.
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