Index gains 273 points

RECORDER REVIEW

KARACHI: The KSE-100 index gained 272.95 points, or 2.5 percent, during the week ended on December 23, 2011 and closed at 11,301.09 points on the back of investors' interest, on dips, mainly in fertilizer and banking sector stocks.

Trading improved slightly and the average daily volume at the ready counter increased by 1.4 percent to 44.93 million shares as compared to previous week's 44.30 million shares.

Market capitalisation increased by Rs 68 billion to Rs 2.930 trillion. Foreign investors remained on the selling side and withdrew shares worth $8.88 million.

On Monday, the market opened on a positive note and the index increased by 54.89 points to close at 11,083.03 points with volume of 36.453 million shares.

On Tuesday, the market witnessed a bullish session and the index surged by 255.01 points to close at 11,338.04 points with 77.801 million shares.

On Wednesday, the investors opted for profit taking and the index lost 69.49 points to close at 11,268.55 points with 46.576 million shares.

On Thursday, investors' interest supported the index to register an increase of 37.55 points to close at 11,306.10 points with 33.212 million shares.

On Friday, the index lost 5.01 points and closed at 11,301.09 points with 30.624 million shares.

Yawar uz Zaman, an analyst at InvestCap, said that the index witnessed some healthy activities on the back of investor interest in fertilizer and the banking sectors. Moreover, after two consecutive price reversals, Engro Corporation raised urea price by Rs100/bag this time, blaming the same issue (gas shortage) to justify price increase.

Investors also showed optimism after the return of President Zardari, which nullified political uncertainties, to some extent, that were prevailing on local bourse.

Furqan Ayub at JS Global Capital said that the week began on a positive note as speculation in domestic politics eased somewhat after the return of President Zardari. Concurrently, further impetus came on the back of rumors related to proposal of KSE to collect capital gain tax under the presumptive tax regime for individual investors. The local bourse outperformed the regional markets by 1 percent.

Mixed reaction in fertilizer stocks was witnessed amid the uncertainty on gas-related issues. Fatima and FFBL outperformed the market by 6 percent and 2 percent, respectively, while FFC and Engro unperformed by 1 percent.