RECORDER REPORT
KARACHI: Bulls dominate the proceedings at the Karachi bourse Wednesday adding another 402 points to the benchmark 100-index led by oil stocks.
The KSE-100 index rose to 35,676.50 points from Tuesday’s 35,274.66 that proved to be the session low.
The trading turnover further contracted by three percent and stood at 352.72 million shares valuing, however, higher at Rs 13.925 billion or $136 million. The stocks traded totalled at 393 of which 203 posted gains, 169 lost their worth and that of 21 remained unchanged. The market capitalisation closed in green and accumulated to Rs 7.68 trillion with foreign investors concluding the day on a positive note at net buying of $ 1.67 million.
Though index heavyweight issues from oil and gas and banking sectors remained in the limelight, the day’s volumes were led by PTCL which saw changing hands over 18 million of its listed shares each valuing Rs 22.11 on closing.
Other best performers were TRG Pakistan 17.8 million, Silk Bank 17.7 million, Fauji Fertilizer Bin Qasim 15.8 million, K-Electric 13.4 million, NIB Bank 12.8 million, Quice Food 11.9 million, Jahangir Siddiqui Company 11.3 million, Telecard Limited 10.8 million and Pak Elektron 9.8 million shares. The oil stocks including OGDC and PPL appreciated, respectively, by 3.6 and two percent. The banking giants like HBL and MCB grew by 2.6 and 0.8 percent. Some profit-taking was seen in the FFBL after its June quarter results which was in line with investors expectations, said analysts.
Futures trade inched down to 55 million contracts from 56.6 million of the previous session.
“Stocks closed bullish led by oil sector after global oil prices recovered from six-month lows,” viewed Ahsan Mehanti of Arif Habib Corp.
The catalyst for the day, the analyst said, included the receipt of $336 million Coalition Support Fund, upbeat data on fertilizer sales for Jun’15, higher banking spreads and expectations for release of next IMF tranche following 8th Review under $6.64 billion Extended Fund Facility. Topline analyst Mohammad Rizwan said the market continued its rally for the second consecutive day. “The KSE-100 index rallied by 402 points… led by interest in oil and banking stocks,” he said.
