Profit-taking trims early gains on KSE

The Karachi share market witnessed a bullish session on Tuesday and KSE-100 index ended at a new high level of 13,571.14 points with a gain of 30.69 points on the back of fresh buying by foreign investors and local institutional support.
The KSE-30 index also surged by 31.66 points to close at 16,856.75 points. The market started on a positive note and the KSE-100 index hit 13,623.39 points intra-day high. However, profit taking in select stocks pushed the index down.
Despite the thunderstorm lashing the city, the market witnessed heavy trading activity and the ready market volume increased by 27 percent to 363.919 million shares against 285.941 million shares of Monday. The futures market turnover also increased to 80.083 million shares against 74.484 million shares.
Market capitalisation surged by Rs 10 billion to Rs 3.954 trillion. CFS value stood at Rs 54.58 billion as compared with Monday's Rs 54.62 billion. Trading took place in 383 scrips out of which 179 scrips closed in positive column and 161 scrips closed in negative column while the value of 43 scrips remained unchanged.
NIB Bank was the star performer with 36.286 million shares, and surged by Re 1.00 to close at Rs 8.50. It was followed by Lucky Cement which gained Rs 3.15 to close at Rs 137.10 with a volume of 32.821 million shares.
In the other cement sector stocks, Maple Leaf increased by Rs 1.20 to close at Rs 25.30. However, DG Khan Cement lost Rs 0.95 to close at Rs 118.60. Trading activity was seen in TRG and the scrip gained Rs 0.35 to close at Rs 13.80 with a turnover of 25.155 million shares.
In the banking sector, Bank AlFalah and Askari Bank surged by Rs 1.95 and Rs 0.90 to close at Rs 57.45 and Rs 101.75 respectively. Dewan Salman gained Rs 1.00 to close at Rs 9.70, Fauji Fertiliser Bin Qasim surged by Rs 0.10 to close at Rs 38.95 while Bosicor increased by Rs 0.45 to close at Rs 16.85.
Wyeth Pak and Siemens were the highest gainers which Rs 89.00 and Rs 78.00 to close at Rs 1889.00 and Rs 1638.00 respectively, while Unilever and National Refinery were the highest losers which lost Rs 30.00 and Rs 8.90 to close at Rs 2210.00 and Rs 330.00 respectively.
Ahsan Mehanti at Shehzad Chamdia Securities said that continuous foreign interest was seen in equity market as SCRAs balances reached all time high level of $924.95 million. Foreign investors took interest in banking sector stocks. The news that NBP will offload its 23 percent holding in Khushhali Bank and will also offload 30 percent shares of Al Jazeera created positive sentiment in the banking sector.
The news that Lucky Cement would launch GDRs invited buying in relevant stocks, and cement sector remained favourite for local investors and institutions. Increasing oil prices in the international market was another positive sign which invited fresh buying.
Muhammad Fahad Qasim at Atlas Capital Markets said that the news that talks were in advanced stage to buy 30 percent Warid by Singapore Telecom triggered buying in BAFL from the start of the market, followed by healthy activity in other banking stocks.
Second-tier stocks also performed well as the fiscal year end was approaching and the mutual funds/institutions are trying to improve values of their holdings to depict a better picture. However, profit taking was seen at the end of the session due to extended CFS funding being Tuesday and non-availability of CFS as it is at its ceiling of Rs 55 billion.