Bullish spell deepens

A bullish trend continued on Pakistan Stock Exchange (PSX) on the back of healthy buying, mainly by local investors and institutions. The benchmark KSE-100 index crossed 42,900 points psychological level for the first time in its history.
The index closed at 42,901.02 level with a net increase of 269.44 points on Wednesday.
Trading activity also improved as the volumes at the ready counter increased by 17.6 percent to 495.605 million shares as compared to 467.002 million shares traded Tuesday. The market capitalisation increased by Rs 59 billion to Rs 8.733 trillion. Out of the total 430 active stocks, 246 closed in positive, 159 in negative while the value of 25 stocks remained unchanged.
Foreign investors, however remained net sellers of shares and withdrew another $6.7 million from the stock market.
Pace (Pak) Limited was the volume leader with 53.683 million shares gaining Rs 0.58 to close at Rs 12.61 followed by P.I.A.C. (A) that increased by Rs 0.40 to close at Rs 13.12 with 35.874 million shares. Bank of Punjab lost Rs 0.12 to close at Rs 18.85 with 21.069 million shares.
Wyeth Pak and Sanofi-Aventis were the top gainers with Rs 226.69 and Rs 95.73, respectively to close at Rs 4,760.56 and Rs 2,010.43. Philip Morris and Unilever Foods were the top losers with Rs 90.08 and Rs 60.00 respectively to close at Rs 2,109.51 and Rs 5,700.00.
Ahsan Mehanti at Arif Habib Corporation said that the index closed all-time high led by oil and cement scrips on strong valuations. Upbeat crude production data, rising global crude prices above $48/barrel amid speculations for OPEC output freeze and rising trend in local cement prices played a catalyst role in record close, he said.
An analyst at Global Securities said that the local bourse witnessed another compelling session as the KSE100 index surged by 269 points. UBL supported index the most with total contribution of 46 points due to possible foreign buying. Moreover, PKGS supported the index by 23 points. Mughall hit the upper circuit once company announced resumption of its 9.3MW gas power plant. Bearish activity was witnessed in the automobile sector. Then E&P sector also supported the index by 58 points as OGDC attained highest ever production level of 50,000 bpd.