The Karachi equity market reacted positively to Prime Minister's speech and the benchmark KSE-100 index gained another 201.05 points to close at 28,505.55 points amid low volumes on Wednesday. Samar Iqbal, AVP at Topline Securities, said further recovery was seen after the Prime Minister's speech which showed some flexibility to PTI's demands.
The KSE-100 index increased by 0.7 percent to close at 28,505 points. Volume was slightly lower at 134 million shares and the value also decreased to Rs 7 billion. EFERT announced better than consensus earnings for June quarter, she maintained. During the intra-day trading, the index reached 28,637.09 points highest and 28,197.59 points lowest level. Despite a bullish trend, volume at the ready counter decreased to 133.853 million shares compared to 220.657 million shares in previous session. Market capitalisation, however, surged by Rs 41 billion to Rs 6.696 trillion against Rs 6.655 trillion Tuesday. Trading took place in 355 companies, of which 237 closed in green zone, 100 in red while 18 landed in blue zone.
Aleeza Afreen, analyst at Aba Ali Habib Securities, said the benchmark KSE-100 index was off to a resilient start Wednesday advancing to 201 points. The breadth of the market remained positive. However, some major profit-taking accompanied by local buying participation was seen in select scripts. The impact of the ongoing political concerns will be affecting the market in coming days, she added.
Among top 10 volume leaders, seven companies recorded a positive trend. B.O.Punjab emerged volume leader with 12.62 million shares, up Re 0.15 to close at Rs 7.82. Maple Leaf Cement stood second, down Re 0.05 to close at Rs 27.37 on 8.06 million shares. Lafarge Pak lost Re 0.02 to close at Rs 15.52 on 7.94 million shares.
Engro Fertilizer Limited moved up by Re 0.91 to close at Rs 54.21 on 5.18 million shares. With 4.17 million shares, Faysal Bank gained Re 0.23 to close at Rs 16.31. Fatima Fert climbed by Re 0.91 to close at Rs 27.44 on 3.97 million shares. Pak Elektron Ltd dipped by Re 0.08 to close at Rs 26.87 on 3.97 million shares K-Electric bagged Re 0.02 to close at Rs 7.10 on 3.77 million shares. With a trading volume of 3.61 million shares, TRG Pakistan Ltd closed at Rs 10.33, up Re 0.05. P.S.O surged by Rs 2.72 to close at Rs 366.82 on 3.49 million shares.
Nestle Pak and Bata (Pak) were the top gainers with Rs 99.87 and Rs 39.74 to close at Rs 7,499.87 and Rs 3,324.38, respectively. Rafhan Maize and Pak Tobacco were the top losers with Rs 160.00 and Rs 52.93 to close at Rs 10,100.00 and Rs 1,025.00, respectively. Ahsan Mehanti, analyst at Arif Habib Corporation, said stocks closed higher on institutional support in select scrips across-the-board. Speculations ahead of Pak Oilfields' financial results tomorrow, record earnings announcement by Engro Fertilisers and positive response to PM address to the nation on prevailing political crises impacted the sentiment amid cautious activity ahead of 'Revolution march' and 'Azadi march' called by opposition on August 14, he added.