RECORDER REPORT
KARACHI: The political consensus developed on the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC) project Thursday cast a positive impact on the Karachi share market. It helped the KSE index gain 293.31 points in bullish trade.
The KSE-100 index ended at 33,056.79 points compared to 32,763.48 of the previous trading session. The benchmark index remained bullish throughout the day rallying to the session high 33,132.86 points.
The trading volume rose to 304.38 million shares from 148.7 million of Thursday. The traded value also swelled to Rs 13.7 billion from Rs 6.57 billion.
Overall, 348 scrips changed hands of which 192 posted gains, 131 lost their worth and that of 25 stayed unchanged. The market capitalisation also landed in the greed and accumulated to Rs 7.179 trillion as compared to Rs 7.124 trillion a day earlier.
Foreign portfolio investment remained in red with offshore investors making net selling of $ 2.86 million.
K-Electric, up to Rs 7.58 per share, led the day’s volumes with 27.76 million of its listed shares changing hands.
Other best performing issues included PTCL 19.6 million, Fauji Cement 19 million, Japan Power 17.6 million, Pak Elektron 15.8 million, Southern Electric 12.6 million, Hum Network 12.4 million, Byco Petroleum 10 million, PIA 9.7 million and Maple Leaf Cement 8.8 million shares.
Futures trade also ended up and rose to 65.11 million contracts compared to the previous day’s 39.9 million.
“Bullish activity witnessed at KSE on strong institutional interest in cement and power sector stocks after All Parties Conference (APC) reaches consensus on China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (project),” viewed Ahsan Mehanti of Arif Habib Corp.
Recovery in global crude prices, speculations ahead of CPI inflation data release for May’15 and record allocations of Rs 580 billion for the Public Sector Development Program (PSDP) in the upcoming federal budget played a catalyst role in bullish activity, said the analyst.
Mohammad Rizwan, a vice president at Topline Securities, said attractive valuation temped investors to take positions in index heavy-weight stocks like MCB and HBL which closed at their upper limits.
Investors continued their buying spree in cement sector on the back of proposed higher development spending in FY16, he added.
Yen depreciation against dollar kept auto sector in the limelight. As a result, HCAR and PSMC both moved up by 2.42 percent and 4 percent, respectively.
