KSE gains 56.59 points

The Karachi stocks market closed higher to gain 56.59 points on the back of international credit rating agency, Moody''s, favourable rating for Pakistan. The KSE 100 index closed at 34,657.29 points compared to Thursday''s 34,594.70. The turnover at the ready counter was recorded higher at 432 million shares from 381 million of last trading day. The traded value settled at Rs 15.5 billion as against Rs 16.1 billion of the previous session.
Of the total 385 scrips traded, 208 gained, 154 lost and 23 stayed unchanged in prices. The market capital inched up to Rs 7.464 trillion. The foreign investors ended the day in red with net selling of $717,107. Byco Petroleum, which declined to Rs 16.20, led the day''s volumes with 41 million stocks. Other best performing issues were Dewan Cement 27 million, Lotte Chemical 26.9 million, Jahangir Siddiqui Company 24 million, Ghani Automobile 22 million, Fauji Fertiliser Bin Qasim 21.7 million, K-Electric 17.4 million, Pak Elektron 15.6 million, PTCL 14.8 million and Dewan Motors 11.4 million shares.
The futures trade remained upward and ended at 34.4 million contracts compared to 31 million of Thursday. "Stocks closed higher after Moody''s upgrade on Pakistan Foreign Currency Issuer and bond ratings to B3 with stable outlook," viewed Ahsan Mehanti of Arif Habib Corp. The positive rating, the analyst said, was attributed to the country''s improving foreign exchange reserves, real GDP growth and structural reforms under the IMF programme.
Trade, Mehanti observed, remained high led by selected stocks across the board on federal budget incentives, record PSDP commitments and tax concessions for machinery imports on expansion played a catalyst role in bullish sentiments at KSE. "The market remained volatile through the day''s trade... Healthy volumes proved to be a positive for the market," said Umair Hasan of JS Global.
With cements posting a slight recovery after the recent profit-taking sessions, the banking scrips, on the back of low NIMs and an unfriendly budget, continued to remain under pressure. ABL, BAFL, BAHL and UBL all ended lower by 0.14, 0.76, 0.79 and 0.85 percent, respectively. With a slight downside witnessed in global oil prices in consecutive trading sessions, the oil and gas sector felt the heat with PSO, OGDC and PPL losing 0.91, 0.53 and 0.22 percent, respectively. The auto sector witnessed a bullish trend with MTL and AGTL ending 4.93 and 5 percent cap a piece. "Ahead of Ramadan, food scrips witnessed strong investor interest in general with NATF ending at its upper-circuit of 5 percent," said Umair.