Despite terrorist attacks in Lahore and Peshawar, the Karachi share market continued its upward trend during the week ended on May 30, 2009 on the back of cut in Pakistan Investment Bond (PIB) yields, Pak-Iran gas pipeline deal and the Supreme Courts decision to declare Sharif brothers eligible to contest elections.
The KSE-100 index surged by 130.37 points, or 2 percent, to 7,276.61 points from 7,146.24 points. Trading also improved and the average daily volume increased by 31 percent to 151.280 million shares as compared to 115.280 million shares.
Market capitalisation increased by Rs 38 billion, to Rs 2.156 trillion. Foreign investors remained net sellers and withdrew $4.1 million from the country''s equity market during the week.
On Monday, the market opened on a positive note and the index gained 27.33 points to close at 7,173.57 point with volume of 143.691 million shares.
On Tuesday, the market witnessed mixed trend. However, it managed to close in positive at 7,176.89 points, up by 3.32 points, with 127.845 million shares. On Wednesday, the index increased by 11.95 points to close at 7,188.84 points with 141.252 million shares.
On Thursday, positive trend continued and the index surged by 99.29 points to close at 7,288.13 points level with 154.782 million shares. However, on Friday, the index lost 11.52 points due to profit taking in last hour and closed at 7,276.61 points level with 188.832 million shares.
Bilal Qamar, an analyst at JS Global Capital said that the market welcomed Supreme Court decision lifting of election ban on Sharif brothers, as the market opened on a positive note on Wednesday. However, the bullish sentiment in the market was soon hit by the terror attacks in Lahore. Despite these terrorist activities, the market remained strong and closed the week on two percent high.
The other major development during the week was the PIB auction, as yields fell in the range of 60bps. Following the decline in PIB yields, renewed interest was observed in the leveraged-cum long term growth stocks in the fertiliser and cement sector, up 1.5 percent and 3.2 percent respectively. Moreover, due to sharp increase in oil prices, E&P sector was up by 3.7 percent.