RECORDER REPORT
KARACHI: Sentiment at the Karachi bourse remained positive Wednesday and the benchmark KSE-100 index closed at 33,376 point, up by 173 points.
Mohammad Rizwan Vice President Topline Securities said that continued interest was seen in index heavyweights like HBL, OGDC and LUCK which were up by 0.65-4.44 percent.
“Sharp upsurge in international oil prices also supported the market and helped local oil and gas stocks - OGDC, PPL, POL and PSO to gain 3.70-5 percent,” he added.
During the intraday trading, the index fluctuated in green zone touching intraday 33,407points highest level. However, the trading volume continued to decline and overall some 132.477 million shares were traded Wednesday compared to 148.527 million Tuesday. The traded value also declined by 11 percent to Rs7.6 billion. Similarly, with an increase of Rs 28 billion, market capitalisation surged to Rs 7.135 trillion up from Rs 7.107 trillion. Ahsan Mehanti, analyst at Arif Habib, said stocks closed higher amid cautious activity ahead of quarter-end earning announcements at KSE led by oil & gas sector.
“WTI crude prices rally above $49/barrel, speculations ahead of SBP policy rate decisions next month and bullish sentiment in global equities played a catalytic role in the bullish close,” he added.
Out of 366 active scrips, 140 advanced, 204 declined while the value of 22 scrips remained unchanged. Among top 10 active scrips, Byco Petroleum, TRG Pak Ltd, Hum Network and K-Electric were volume leaders with 19.84 million, 9.8 million, 6.6 million and 5.7 million shares, respectively.
Ahmed Saeed Khan of JS said bulls dominated the session where volatility remained in the green zone as the index stayed between +192 points and +5 points to finally close +0.52 percent with supporting volumes of over 132 million shares.
Positivity was solely attributed to the oil sector, almost a 5 percent increase in global oil prices has been the main driver in the sector, where top performers were SHELL (+5.0 percent), PPL (+4.0 percent) and POL (+3.4 percent), he added.
He said cherry picking continued in the banking sector where three out of the big five banks closed marginally positive. “Decline in cement dispatches announced Tuesday for the month of September has taken its toll on the sector, as the whole sector remained in the red zone throughout the day,” he maintained. Major laggards of the sector were POWER (-1.8 percent) and MLCF (-0.9 percent).
Bata (Pak) and Exide (Pak) were the top gainers with Rs 29.90 and Rs 27.35 to close at Rs 3,000.00 and Rs 960.60, respectively. Hinopak Motor and Ferozsons (Lab) SPOT were the top losers with Rs 26.15 and Rs 15.30 to close at Rs 1,083.86 and Rs 799.43, respectively.
