RECORDER REPORT
KARACHI: Equities turned bullish on the back of renewed foreign interest in banking and oil stocks on strong valuations at Karachi Stock Exchange Tuesday. The KSE 100-index gained 313.07 points to close at 29,191.84 or 1.08 percent against 28,878.77 points Monday. Ahsan Mehanti, an analyst at Arif Habib Securities said stocks showed strong recovery in the quarter-end earning announcement session on renewed foreign interest in banking and oil stocks. Strong earnings of MCB Bank, speculations ahead of major earnings announcement in banking and oil stocks due this week and easing concerns on volatile rupee parity played a catalyst role in the bullish activity at KSE despite pressure in textile stocks amid losses on rupee appreciation, he added.
The KSE-100 index opened at 28,878.77 points and hit 29,239.59 points intraday high. It closed at 29,191.84 points gaining 313.07 points.
Trading took place in 360 scrips, of which 183 closed in positive zone, 157 in negative and that of 20 remained unchanged.
Maple Leaf Cement emerged volume leader with 19.4 million shares. It gained Re 0.52 to close at 30.93. Lafarge Pak. XD stood second gaining Re 0.39 to close at Rs 13.70 on 10.68 million shares. Faysal Bank closed at Rs 17.19, bagging Re 0.56 on 9.91 million shares.
K-Electric gained Re 0.01 to close at Rs 7.02 on 9.82 million shares. National Bank XD gained Rs 1.74 to close at Rs 59.08 on 8.17 million shares. Fauji Cement moved up by Re 0.11 to close at Rs 18.18 on 7.81 million shares. B.O.Punjab closed at Rs 10.94, up by Re 0.05 on 5.82 million shares. Jah. Sidd Co gained Re 0.03 to close at Rs 12.71 on 5.03 million shares. Bank Al-Falah XD closed at Rs 27.64, gaining Re 0.16 on 4.74 million shares. Pervaiz Ahmed rose by Re 0.52 to close at Rs 4.03 on 3.87 million shares.
Rafhan Maize and Bata (Pak) XD were the top gainers with Rs 240 and Rs 57.66 to close at Rs 10,740 and Rs 3,365, respectively. Wyeth Pak Ltd and Nestle Pak XD were the top losers with Rs 100 and Rs 49 to close at Rs 4,100 and 8,051, respectively.
Samar Iqbal of Topline Securities said that renewed interest in banking, cement and oil stocks helped the market to rebound by 1 percent post-Easter holidays and a correction of 600 points in last 3 sessions. Volumes also rose by 18 percent to 191mn shares (Rs9.4bn).
Better earnings of MCB and HMB brought renewed interest in the stocks while UBL also closed 5 percent up. LPCL’s announcement to support its holding company in due diligence process brought renewed interest in the stock. MLCF led the volume with 19mn shares to close Rs.0.58 up.
