RECORDER REPORT
KARACHI: Bulls prevailed on Wednesday over Karachi equity market that gained 305.64 points or 0.91 percent.
Having peaked to the session high 33,925.81 points, the KSE-100 index finally settled at 33, 839.28.
“Stocks closed higher amid a bullish rally in oil scrips after Brent crude prices hit 2015 highs nearing to $68 a barrel,” said Ahsan Mehanti of Arif Habib Corporation.
Amid post earnings consolidation, the investor sentiments were affected by concerns for rising power sector receivables and political uncertainty, the analyst added.
The trading turnover upped to 215 million shares from the previous 173 million while the value of scrips traded also rose to Rs 11.9 billion from Rs 10.5 billion of Tuesday.
Overall, 362 stocks were traded, of which 191 gained, 152 lost and 19 remained unchanged in valuation.
The market capitalisation too ended up in green zone at Rs 7.35 trillion as against Rs 7.24 trillion of last session.
The foreign investors made net buying of $ 2.33 million during the bullish activity.
Pak Elektron, which appreciated to Rs 63.13 from Rs 61.35 per share, led the volume and was traded by 23.5 million stakes.
Other nine best performers included Byco Petroleum 15.2 million, K-Electric 13.9 million, Engro Fertiliser 10.8 million, Jahangir Siddiqui Company 10.8 million, Fauji Cement 10.4 million, PTCL 9.5 million, TRG Pakistan 8.8 million, Hum Network 6.7 million and Arif Habib Corporation 6.7 million shares.
Trade on futures market ended positive at 31.5 million contracts compared to 29.3 million of the previous day.
Mehanti said the S&P’s revision on Pakistan’s credit ratings outlook to positive and forecast of higher GDP growth were the day’s catalysts.
Samar Iqbal, a vice president at Topline Securities, said rally in oil stocks following rising international oil prices helped the index.
While the OGDC and POL added five percent each, the PPL rose by three percent. The three heavyweight stocks, Samar observed, contributed 193 points to the index’s total gain.
Byco also moved upward to hit its upper circuit of Rs 12.42 on the back of the company’s announcement of profit for the third quarter ending March 31st.
The PTC got support from institutional interest to gain five percent while the auto sector attracted some investors expecting a robust car sales data for April.
The cement sector witnessed continued profit-taking with DGKC, MLCF and FCCL losing 0.8, 1.5 and 0.4 percent respectively.
“A discount rate-cut may provide a buying opportunity in cement sector while bears may dominate the banking sector,” viewed JS analyst Umair Hasan.
