Bulls take control

A bullish trend continued on Pakistan Stock Exchange (PSX) Tuesday. On the back of fresh buying mainly by local investors and institutions, the benchmark KSE-100 index again crossed 49,000 psychological level. The index closed at 49,020.21 points with a net gain of 322.56 points. Foreign investors however remained net sellers of shares worth $1.4 million.
Trading activity also improved as daily trading volumes on the ready counter increased by 67 percent to 225.178 million shares as compared to 134.748 million shares traded Monday. The market capitalization increased by Rs 57 billion to Rs 9.622 trillion. Out of total 403 active scrips, 294 closed in positive, 83 in negative while the value of 26 stocks remained unchanged.
K-Electric was the volume leader with 36.062 million shares. However, the scrip lost Rs 0.16 to close at Rs 8.87 followed by Aisha Steel Mills that gained Rs 1.16 to close at Rs 24.52 with 25.594 million shares. Power Cement increased by Rs 1.00 to close at Rs 20.02 with 10.605 million shares. Wyeth Pak and Rafhan Maize were the top gainers with Rs 136.34 and Rs 100.00, respectively to close at Rs 2,863.31 and Rs 7,700.00. Mari Petroleum and Thal Ind. Corporation were the top losers with Rs 53.43 and Rs 22.00, respectively to close at Rs 1,332.87 and Rs 506.00.
Arhum Ghous at JS Global Capital said that the market opened on a positive note and kept its previous trend as the index traded at intraday high of plus 362 points and intraday low of minus 21 points to finally close at 49,020 level, up 323 points. PPL (up 1.25 percent), OGDC (up 0.50 percent) and POL (up 0.78 percent) in the E&P sector closed in the green zone as the oil prices rose on expectations that an Opec-led production cut to spur the market could be extended. KEL (down 1.77 percent) in the power generation sector closed in the red zone on the back of the news that the National Electric Power Regulatory Authority determined integrated multi-year tariff for K-Electric for seven-year period (2016-23) and reduced its base tariff to Rs 12.07/unit from existing Rs 15.57 a unit. Besides, HUBC (up 0.64 percent) in the same sector closed positive as 1,320MW coal-fired power plant in Hub has been commenced on Tuesday.
An analyst at Topline Securities said that the KSE-100 sustained momentum from Monday''s session, gaining 323 points or 0.66 percent and managed to close above 49,000 level after seven sessions. Contribution to the upside came from MCB (up 2.3 percent), SEARL (up 4.7 percent), SNGP (up 4.1 percent), PPL (up 1.3 percent) and ENGRO (up 0.8 percent), adding 143 points.