RECORDER REPORT

KARACHI: After several negative sessions, the Karachi share market on Tuesday made a smart recovery and for the first time in the history of the bourse, the benchmark KSE-100 index gained over 1,300 points in a single-day trading. “Stocks witnessed record surge as SECP dispelled rumors leading to a record one-day fall on Monday” said Ahsan Mehanti director Arif Habib. Stocks rose across the board led by oversold oil, fertilizers and cement scrips on speculations ahead of quarter results. Expected revision in local petroleum prices and institutional support at the quarter-end close played a catalytic role in bullish activity at KSE, he added.

The KSE-100 index increased by 1,307 points or 4.52 percent to close at 30,234 points Tuesday up from 28,927 point Monday. Analysts said this is highest-ever recovery in single session. A day earlier the market had witnessed all-time high decline and lost 1,031 points.

Samar Iqbal, Vice President Equity Sales Topline Securities, said a record rise of 1,307 points for the first time was witnessed in Pakistan market. Following the smooth settlement of futures contract, Pakistan market rallied after 9 percent fall in the last 5 sessions, she added.

“Net foreign buying of $6 million on Monday also uplifted investor sentiment and at the end of the day there were buyers in many stocks with no seller indicating that the current recovery will continue as the index has fallen sharply by 17 percent in last 8 weeks,” Samar said.

ENGRO, PAEL and MLCF with good volumes closed at 5 percent upper limit as investors tried to rebuild their portfolios. In addition, leading banks - MCB, UBL, NBP and ABL - also closed at their 5 percent upper limit. Out of 372 active companies, 321 closed in green, 40 declined while 11 remained unchanged. Despite positive sentiment, trading volume moved downward and overall some 261 million shares were traded compared to 275 million a day earlier. Market capitalisation surged by Rs 252 billion to reach Rs 6.761 trillion.

Among top 10 volume leaders, all companies closed positive. With 45 million shares, K-Electric emerged volume leader, gaining Re 1.00 to close at Rs 7.11. B.O. Punjab stood second, up by Re 1.00 to close at Rs 8.05 on 25 million shares. Pak Elektron ranked third with 21 million shares, increasing by Rs 2.11 to Rs 44.44.

Fauji Cement closed at Rs 28.47, up Rs 1.35 on 11 million shares. Some 7.6 million shares of D.G.K. Cement were traded and the scrip moved up by Rs 5.21 to Rs 111.80. TRG Pak Ltd gained Re 1.00 to Rs 14.87 on 6.9 million shares. With 6.7 million shares, Maple Leaf Cement XD rose by Rs 2.28 to Rs 48.04 and Habib Metropolitan XD closed at Rs 29.04, up by Rs 1.38 on 6.6 million shares. Pak Int. Bulk increased by Rs 1.33 to Rs 27.93 on 5.2 million shares and with some 5 million shares, Soneri Bank Ltd. XD closed at Rs 11.25, gaining Re 0.86.

Unilever Foods and Rafhan Maize XD were the top gainers with Rs 403.05 and Rs 188.86 to close at Rs 8,479.00 and Rs 9,889.86, respectively. Wyeth Pak Ltd and Colgate Palmolive were the top losers with Rs 126.97 and Rs 31.33 to close at Rs 2,414.28 and Rs 1,621.67 respectively. Analysts at JS said after the end of the foreign selling spree Monday, local investors gained confidence as the KSE-100 index and posted the highest gain ever in terms of number of points.

Many scrips in different sectors hit their respective upper limits but the sector that had the most scrips hitting their upper locks was the banking sector, one of the most oversold sectors. The cement sector also remained the focal point of investors’ attention with LPCL, LUCK, PIOC and ACPL hitting their upper locks.

Fundamentally, there are several positive triggers for the cement sector. As some cement companies are highly leveraged the recent interest rate cuts will have a positive earnings impact for this quarter along with expected higher local dispatch numbers for the whole sector, they added.