The Karachi share market witnessed another bullish session on Thursday as the benchmark KSE-100 index breached through 13,700 historic level on the back of fresh buying mainly in banking and textile sectors.
The market opened on a positive note and the KSE-100 index hit highest ever 13,767.39 points intra-day high level, up by 98.36 points, however, profit taking in cement and some other select stocks pushed the index down and finally closed at 13,727.95 points level with a net gain of 58.92 points.
On the other hand, the parallel free float market capitalisation-based KSE-30 index breached through 17,000 points level for the first time since its launching on September 1, 2006 and finally closed at 17,002.75 points level, increased by 11.41 points.
The market witnessed healthy trading activity as the ready market volume increased to 430.270 million shares as compared to 365.453 million shares traded a day earlier. The futures market turnover, however, declined to 74.475 million shares against 87.722 million previously. The overall market capitalisation crossed rupees four trillion level and finally settled at Rs 4.004 trillion, up by Rs 15 billion.
Trading took place in 411 scrips, out of which 203 scrips closed in positive column and 173 scrips closed in negative column while the value of 35 scrips remained unchanged.
Nishat Mills was the star performer of the day with 34.353 million shares and the scrip surged by Rs 5.25 to close at Rs 133.75 followed by PTCL which gained Rs 2.00 to close at Rs 56.20 with a total volume of 31.250 million shares. Healthy buying was witnessed in other Technology & Communication stocks as TRG Pakistan, WorldCall Telecom and Telecard increased by Rs 1.00, Rs 0.95 and Rs 0.30 to close at Rs 15.40, Rs 18.70 and Rs 12.00 respectively.
The banking sector also performed well as Askari Bank and NBP closed at Rs 104.95 and Rs 264.50, up by Rs 0.55 and Rs 3.00 respectively.
Buying was also witnessed in Refinery sector as Attock Refinery, Bosicor Pakistan, National Refinery and Pak Refinery gained Rs 5.45, Rs 0.45, Rs 7.10 and Rs 1.00 respectively. Profit taking was witnessed in cement sector as DG Khan Cement and Lucky Cement lost Rs 0.75 and Rs 0.85 to close at Rs 117.80 and Rs 136.90 respectively, however, Fauji Cement gained Rs 0.80 to close at Rs 20.20. Dewan Salman closed at Rs 10.60, down by Rs 0.10.
Selling pressure was also seen in oil & gas marketing companies as PSO and Attock Pertoleum and SSGC lost Rs 9.50, Rs 4.00 and Rs 0.15 respectively to close at Rs 390.00, Rs 4.00 and Rs 26.10 respectively, however, Shell Pakistan and SNGPL gained rupees two and Rs 0.05 to close at Rs 412.00 and Rs 70.90 respectively.
The E&P sector also witnessed selling pressure as Mari Gas Co, OGDC, POL and PPL declined by rupees two, Rs 0.85, Rs 8.50 and Rs 2.80 to close at Rs 176.00, Rs 120.35, Rs 325.00 and Rs 264.65 respectively.
Wyeth Pak and Unilever were the highest gainers, which gained Rs 84.20 and Rs 53.00 to close at Rs 2064.00 and Rs 2235.00 respectively, while Mirpurkhas Sugar and PSO were the highest losers, which lost Rs 11.05 and Rs 9.50 to close at Rs 209.95 and Rs 390.00 respectively.
Ahsan Mehanti at Shehzad Chamdia Securities said that the foreign investors took their fresh positions mainly in banking sector, however, healthy buying was witnessed in textile and refinery sectors.
The rumour regarding delay in PSO's privatisation and a negative report regarding oil fields invited selling in the relevant stocks and many of the stocks closed in negative. The news regarding expected decline in cement prices also invited selling in the relevant stocks.
Kamran Naqvi, head of Equity Trade at Atlas Capital Markets, said that the rumour of finalisation of deal of Warid Telecom provided an early impetus to the market and within few minutes BAFL's share price hit its upper circuit. This invited interest in other banking stocks, especially the NBP and Askari Bank, which also have potential of one time gains as both are in advance stages to swell their holdings of Al Jazira and ABL respectively.