On the day of presentation of Budget 2013-14 in National Assembly, Karachi Stock Exchange (KSE) witnessed bull-run and the benchmark-100 index bagged 115.50 points to close at 22,324.57 points against 22,209.07 points Tuesday. The local bourse which opened in green zone, showed positive mood and after sustaining a few fluctuations, closed on the same note. The main index touched highest level of 22,491.46 during the intra-day trading.
Commenting on the market performance, Samar Iqbal, an analyst at Topline Securities said led by oil stocks, the market rallied 115 points after government announcement of circular debt resolution. She said fertiliser, cement and FMCGs also came under selling pressure as investors expecting tax increase in the upcoming budget which could hurt profitability while banking sector which was rallying for last few sessions also saw some profit taking, Samar added.
Analysts at JS Global commented that uncertainty was felt in the Karachi stock market due to the budget fillers by government. The KSE?100 index opened positive with the help of E&P sector companies - PSO (+5 percent), PPL (+1.8 percent) and OGDC (+2.1 percent). "Shaky sentiments about expected budget taxation measures gripped investors as they booked profit at various levels. Banking institutions such as MCB, NBP and UBL came under pressure and closed in negative zone. However, buying was witnessed in fertiliser sector on lower levels," they said.
On Wednesday, market capitalisation improved by Rs 35.10 billion to close at Rs 5.411 trillion against Rs 5.376 trillion while the trading side witnessed same higher trend and volume at ready counter stood at 352.443 millions shares from 268.309 million shares. Out of total 388 active scrips, 209 went up, 152 went down and 27 remained unchanged.
Nestle Pak and Mithchells Fruit were the top gainers with share prices increasing by Rs 60.00 and Rs 26.05 to close at Rs 6490.00 and Rs 547.05, respectively. Shezan Inter and Bata (Pak) were the top losers with share prices decreasing by Rs 34.25 and Rs 30.00 to close at Rs 685.00 and Rs 1780.00, respectively.
Six companies available in "Top Ten" chart witnessed increase in their share prices while the rest lost their worth. B.O. Punjab (R) again succeeded to gain the position of "Volume Leader." However, it could not maintain positive trend and shed 60 paisa to close at Rs 2.65 on a turnover of 46.624 million shares. Silk Bank remained in green zone and gained 20 paisa to close at Rs 2.60 on some 21.069 million shares. Fauji Cement lost 36 paisa to close at Rs 11.78 on 16.885 million shares.
PIAC (A) gained 86 paisa to close at Rs 11.47 on some 16.871 million shares. WorldCall Telecom bagged 22 paisa to close at Rs 3.48 on some 13.197 million shares. B.O. Punjab lost 33 paisa to close at Rs 13.48, on 12.953 million shares. Japan Power gained 65 paisa to close at Rs 4.82 on a turnover of 12.179 million shares. Jahangir Siddiqui Company improved by 44 paisa to close at Rs 13.90 on a turnover of 12.073 million shares. Maple Leaf Cement lost 28 paisa to close at Rs 22.90 on some 11.169 million shares. The last one among the Top Ten was Southern Electric which witnessed increase of 61 paisa to close at Rs 4.84 on a turnover of 10.551 million shares.