RECORDER REPORT
KARACHI: Strong earnings outlook for some power and auto sector scrips helped the Karachi share market recover 54 points on Wednesday. In a volatile session, the KSE-100 index managed to land in the green zone to close at 33,242.95 points against 33,188.77 of Tuesday.
"Market remained volatile on Wednesday," said JS analyst Arhum Ghous, adding that an initial surge of 275 points in the day's first half proved to be short-lived.
Ahsan Mehanti of Arif Habib Corp said led by power and auto sector stocks the stocks showed recovery on the back of strong earnings outlook. "Lower international oil prices, record growth in cement sales, falling CPI inflation and PIB yields indicating imminent SBP policy rate cut this month played a catalyst role in positive sentiments," he said.
That, the analyst said, was despite rumors on cement sector price wars likely to dent earnings outlook for cement sector.
Against the previous 212 million shares, trading turnover declined to 180 million. The offshore investors, who had offloaded their positions to the tune of $ 4.22 million, did net buying of $ 61,546.
The value of the stocks traded decreased to Rs 11.22 billion from Rs 13.37 billion of the previous trading session.
Of the total 376 scrips traded, 178 gained, 175 lost and 23 remained unchanged. The market capital remained almost flat at Rs 7.496 trillion.
Pak Elektron led volumes with 19.3 million of its listed shares changing hands on the day. Closing at Rs 55.11, the stock lost Rs 3 per share.
Other most traded scrips were Engro Fertilizer with 14.9 million shares, Maple Leaf Cement with 11.8 million, Jahangir Siddiqui Company with 11.6 million, Lafarge Pakistan with 9.5 million, TRG Pakistan with 6.3 million, K-Electric with 5.9 million, Hum Network with 5.9 million, Pakistan International Bulk Terminal with 5.89 million and Fauji Fertilizer Bin Qasim with 5.82 million shares.
Turnover on futures market upped to 31 million contracts from 29 million of the earlier session.
Arhum observed selling in PAEL as the investors booked profits with the script that ended at Rs 55.11, down 4.4 percent.
Volatility, she said, remained in ENGRO and EFERT as the stocks witnessed a large gap between its high and low. The auto sector was bullish on the back of positive expectations from an upcoming auto policy as HCAR, PSMC and INDU ended 4.2 percent, 1.4 percent and 3.4 percent higher, respectively. On the back of slight recovery in global oil prices, the oil and gas sector attracted the investors' interest. Moving forward, the market is expected to pick momentum on the back of a possible rate-cut in State Bank's discount rate that currently is 8.5 percent.
