A positive sentiment prevailed on Karachi Stock Exchange Friday, supported by renewed foreign interest in bluechips especially OMCs. The KSE-100 Index hit a new high of 29,737.69 points. During the intraday trading, the market gained over 300 points, however it could not sustain the level and the benchmark KSE-100 index increased by 194.11 points to close at highest-ever level of 29,737.69 points up from 29,543.58 points Thursday.
Commenting on the market situation, Samar Iqbal AVP at Topline Securities said continued bullish trend and healthy foreign inflows in the last trading session helped the benchmark 100-index to close at new high. Value traded rose to Rs 17.7 billion, highest in 2014 YTD. Market capitalisation maintained above $70 billion mark, she added.
"PSO kept on rising on expectations that the government will release more funds on account of power sector receivables. Cement also kept increasing on 23 percent higher PSDP allocation reports and government plan of mega infrastructure projects," she added. BYCO led the volume chart with 32.4 million shares, gaining Rs 0.64, followed by LPCL with 27 million shares and KEL which has been rallying with huge volumes in previous sessions with 25 million shares, Samar added. During the intra-day trading, the index also touched highest level of 29,855.58 points and lowest level of 29,543.58 points. Despite a positive trend, volume at the ready counter dropped to 330.814 million shares compared to 351.338 million shares in previous session. Market capitalisation increased by Rs 38 billion to reach Rs 7.042 trillion against Rs 7.004 trillion on Thursday.
Trading took place in 374 scrips, of which 165 closed in green zone, 192 closed with negative signs while share prices of 17 companies remained unchanged. Analyst Shafqat Hussain said that positive sentiments prevailed on KSE due to renewed foreign interest in the market and strong buying in bluechip stocks. Investors took keen interest predominantly in OMCs, cement and chemical, he said and added that "we foresee the market to perform better ahead of the budget session."
Among top 10 volume leaders, 6 closed positive. Byco Petroleum led the volume chart, increasing by Re 0.64 to close at Rs 12.39 on 32.41 million shares. Lafarge Pak stood second with 27.22 million shares, up by Re 0.45 to close at Rs 14.89. After maintaining first position for over a week, K-Electric ranked third, down by Re 0.21 to close at Rs 8.55 on 25.64 million shares. Fauji Cement closed at Rs 18.38, up by Re 0.73 on 22.51 million shares. National Bank bagged Rs 1.02 to close at Rs 60.76 on 18.71 million shares. With a trading volume of 17.39 million, TRG Pakistan Ltd gained Re 0.33 to close at Rs 15.12. Maple Leaf Cement lost Re 0.12 to close at Rs 30.35 on 15.74 million shares.
Pak Elektron Ltd fell by Re 0.41 to close at Rs 27.69 on 9.99 million shares. With a trading volume of 8.14 million shares, B.O.Punjab fell by Re 0.15 to close at Rs 9.58. Engro Corp closed at Rs 213.86, up by Rs 4.89 on 7.20 million shares. Sanofi-Aventis and Island Textile were the top gainers with Rs 45.00 and Rs 43.00 to close at Rs 945.00 and Rs 903.00, respectively. Murree Brewery and Bhanero Tex were the top losers with Rs 52.14 and Rs 41.27 to close at Rs 1,008.25 and Rs 784.29, respectively.
Analyst Ahsan Mehanti at Arif Habib Corp said stocks closed all-time high in the pre-budget rally amid speculations of a pro-investor federal budget due on Jun 3. "Institutional support remained in select stocks across the board. The PSDP commitments of over Rs 1.3 trillion, the ECC approval for Nepra to adjust tariff for debt servicing and foreign portfolio investment in banking, oil and cement sectors following MSCI Frontier Market FM weight revisions in April 2014, played a catalyst role in bullish sentiments at KSE," he added.
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