Led by banking and cement sectors, Karachi Stock Exchange witnessed third consecutive bullish session Wednesday and the KSE-100 Index gained 92.95 points to close at historic high of 23,776.22 against 23,683.27 Tuesday. The share market opened in green zone and maintained the same trend till close. The index touched 23,944 highest and 23,683 lowest level during the intra-day trading.
Market capitalisation also witnessed positive trend and stood at Rs 5.798 trillion against Rs 5.775 trillion. The trading side could not follow suit and the volume at the ready counter closed at 303.683 million shares from 333.012 million shares. Commenting on the market performance, analysts at Arif Habib Corp said Pakistan stocks closed higher led by select blue-chip stocks in oil, banking and cement sectors on strong valuations.
They said that gas discovery announcement by PPL, renewed foreign interest, hopes for early privatisation of SOEs and rationalisation of power tariff under new National Energy Policy initiatives by the CCI played a catalyst role in bullish activity in the earnings announcement session at KSE.
Analysts at JS Global said the local bourse continued to sail into uncharted territory led by the banking sector as NBP +5 percent and MCB +2.4 percent gained on half-year results excitement and rumours of a potential reduction in the minimum deposit rate (from current 6 percent). They said oil and gas sector was the second biggest +ve contributor to the index, as PPL +1.6 percent and PSO +2.5 percent gained on hefty volume. ATRL +5 percent continued to rally defying weak underlying fundamentals as GRMs remain depressed.
They said that FFC ?2.9 percent and ENGRO ?1.5 percent lost ground as prospects of a local urea price hike dimmed on the back of ongoing slump in international prices which is paving the way for cheaper imports. Some 200 scrips witnessed positive trend, 153 companies lost their worth out of a total 376 active scrips. The prices of only 23 shares remained unchanged.
Two top gainers for the day were Siemens Pakistan which shot up by Rs 35.50 to Rs 745.50 and Mithchells which went up by Rs 14.95 to Rs 514.95. The top losers were Nestle Pak which fell by Rs 160 to Rs 6300 and Liberty Mills which lost Rs 15.70 to Rs 357.50. On the Top 10 volume chart, B.O. Punjab led the tally with 35m shares but lost 39 paisa to Rs 13.64. National Bank witnessed a good jump of Rs 2.85 to Rs 60.01 on 19m shares; Fauji Cement saw an increase of only one paisa to close at Rs 15.19 on 19m shares.
Media Times bagged 44 paisa to close at Rs 4.02 on 17m shares; Lafarge Pak shed three paisa to Rs 10.03 on 16m shares and Maple Leaf Cement gained Rs 1.01 to Rs 30.78 on 15m shares. KESC gained 22 paisa to Rs 7.39 on 13m shares; Jahangir Siddiqui Company witnessed a jump of 45 paisa to close at Rs 13.06 on 10m shares; PTCLA shed 89 paisa to close at Rs 27.06 on 9m shares; and DGK Cement climbed by Rs 1.22 to close at Rs 95.86 on 7m shares.