RECORDER REPORT
KARACHI: The stock market witnessed a healthy buying in almost all sectors on Thursday as the investors welcomed the general election results with a huge cheer.
BRIndex100 gained 97.72 points or 2.19 percent to close at 4,560.26 points. BRIndex100 touched intraday high of 4,562.07 and intraday low of 4,462.54 points. Volumes stood at 229.066 million shares.
BRIndex30 increased by 489.95 points or 2.19 percent to close at 22,829.10 points with a turnover of 146.225 million shares.
The benchmark KSE-100 index surged by 749.94 points or 1.81 percent to close at 42,089.16 points. Trading activity also improved significantly as daily volumes increased to 254.328 million shares as compared to 190.849 million shares traded Tuesday.
Foreign investors remained net buyers of shares worth $0.1 million. The market capitalization increased by Rs 100 billion to Rs 8.595 trillion. Out of total 348 active scrips, 228 closed in positive, only 99 in negative while the value of 21 stocks remained unchanged.
Bank of Punjab was the volume leader with 25.008 million shares. However, it lost Re 0.73 to close at Rs 11.79 followed by P.I.A.C. (A) that gained Re 0.82 to close at Rs 5.99 with 21.517 million shares.
Philip Morris Pak and Sapphire Textile were the top gainers with Rs 126.78 and Rs 48.57, respectively to close at Rs 2,662.53 and Rs 1,113.98. Colgate Palmolive and Pak Tobacco were the top losers with Rs 143.60 and Rs 50.00, respectively to close at Rs 2,980.00 and Rs 2,150.00.
BR Commercial Banks Index increased by 153.29 points or 1.71 percent to close at 9,121.41 points with total turnover of 38.469 million shares.
BR Cement Index surged by 164.54 points or 3.71 percent to close at 4,604.26 points with 20.713 million shares.
BR Oil and Gas Index gained 84.5 points or 1.65 percent to close at 5,216.99 points with 11.226 million shares.
BR Tech. & Comm. Index inched up by 16.44 points or 1.36 percent to close at 1,223.68 points with 18.015 million shares.
BR Power Generation and Distribution Index closed at 5,916.64 points, up 27.08 points or 0.46 percent with 19.141 million shares.
An analyst at Topline Securities said investors cheered general elections results on the first day after the poll, where the market rejoiced the possibility of simple majority (or strong coalition) with momentum of 750 points or 1.8 percent, closing at 42,089 index level. Election results boosted investor confidence for next tenure of democratic government, where earlier people were expecting weak coalition government.
Banking sector remained in limelight as investors further expect around 100bps rise in policy rate by December 2018 that would lead to higher spread for banks. As a result, top four banks contributed 143 points to overall gain in index. Similarly, Fertilizer and Cement sector contributed 117 and 120 points respectively with former due to better industry outlook and latter due to its attractive valuation.
