After a bearish session, Karachi stock market on Tuesday closed higher supported by lower inflation and strong OGDCL earnings. The benchmark KSE-100 index gained 28.58 points to close at 29,676.41 points up from 29,647.83 points. "Stocks closed higher after the CPI data for July 2014 stood at 7.88 per cent YoY and strong earnings of the OGDCL, depicting a 37 per cent profit after tax," said Ahsan Mehanti, Director at Arif Habib Securities.
He said that institutional interest in oversold stocks after foreign interest, improved DAP sales data for July-14 and speculations ahead of major announcements due this week played a catalyst role in bullish sentiments at KSE despite concerns for political noise on outcome August 14 march call by political leaders against general election rigging.
During the intra-day trading, the index reached 29,852 points highest and 29,621 points lowest level. Despite a bullish trend, the volume at the ready counter decreased to 132.767 million shares compared to 223.875 million shares in the previous session.
The market capitalisation surged by Rs 13.35 billion to Rs 7.005 trillion against previous Rs 6.992 trillion. Trading took place in 346 companies, of which 151 closed in green zone, 165 in red, while share price of 30 companies were remain unchanged. According to Samar Iqbal, Assistant Vice President Equity Sales Topline Securities (Pvt) Ltd, after opening on a positive note the market remained ranged bound as investors are still confused on the developing local political situation.
The benchmark index closed marginally positive by 0.10 per cent, the volume declined to 133 million shares and value also decreased to $78 million, she added. The PPL remained active after announcing discovery in one of its fields, she said and added that the OGDCL and ABL announced better earnings and payouts while EFOODS earnings were below expectation.
Among top 10 volume leaders, six companies recorded a negative trend. Askari Bank emerged the volume leader with 16.76 million shares, down Re 0.17 to close at Rs 22.16. Lafarge Pak stood second and gained Re 0.06 to close at Rs 15.53 on 11.23 million shares. Engro Fertilizer up by Rs 2.64 to close at Rs 55.76 on 5.9 million shares. Bank Al-Falah decreased by Re 0.29 to Rs 27.29 on 5.7 million shares. With 5 million shares, Fauji Cement closed at Rs 20.19, down by Re 0.03. B O Punjab fell by Re 0.06 to close at Rs 8.61 on 4.11 million shares. Pak Petroleum gained Rs 2.16 to Rs 228.53 and its some 4 million shares were traded. With trading volume of four million, D G Khan Cement closed at Rs 82.46, down by Rs 2.30. Pak Elektron Ltd declined by Re 0.04 to Rs 28.65 on 3.9 million shares and Engro Foods recorded a positive and up by Re 0.52 to close at Rs 106.02 on 3.4 million shares.
Siemens Pakistan and Indus Dying were the top gainers with Rs 33.99 and Rs 31.99 to close at Rs 1,194.00 and Rs 713.99, respectively. Rafhan Maize and Bata Pak were the top losers and declined by Rs 552.00 and Rs 169.33 to close at Rs 11,149.00 and Rs 3,299.67, respectively.