KARACHI: Bulls took charge at Karachi Stock Exchange Monday as KSE-100 index recovered 155.17 points to close at 21,754.95 against 21,599.78 on last trading day.
Commenting on the market performance, Samar Iqbal, AVP at Topline Securities said after peaceful Eid holidays and beginning of September result season coupled with improved global markets, local bourse reported gain of 0.7 percent on first day of new week.
She said that investors are optimistic about Prime Minister’s US visit. Bullish sentiment was witnessed in cement sector after Fauji Cement’s better than expected September EPS announcement of Rs.0.44. FCCL gained 9 percent up with 14mn shares changed hands, she added.
Ovais Ahsan, a researcher at JS Global said that first trading session after a week long hiatus was dominated by bulls, as the market played catch up with regional peers.
He said that striking through of a deal in US Congress over increasing the debt ceiling, news of US resuming $1.6bn in aid to Pakistan, the disbursement of $322m under the Coalition Support Fund (CSF) and the start of the result season were some of the core reasons for the market’s strength.
He said that major gainers for the day were index heavyweights MCB+ 1.6 percent, PPL +1.8 percent and NBP +4.0 percent. Earnings season kicked off with Fauji Cement reporting an impressive 61 percent YoY growth for 1QFY14 (EPS Rs0.42) underpinning strong fundamentals prevailing in the sector.
The index touched 21,979 as highest and 21,599 as lowest level during the intra-day trading. The market capitalisation witnessed an improvement as it stood at Rs5.174 trillion against Rs5.154 trillion. The trading side remained on the same page and the volume at the ready counter closed up at 136.490 million shares from 61.977 million shares.
Out of total 314 active stocks, 174 went up, 119 went down and 21 shares saw no change.
Two top gainers for the day were Nestle Pak, which shot up by Rs50 to Rs6550 and Siemens Pakistan, which climbed by Rs12.50 to Rs917.50. The top losers were Wyeth Pak, which shed Rs50 to Rs4150 and Indus Motor Co XD, which lost Rs16.05 to Rs305.13.
Of the Top 10 volume leaders, Askari Bank (R) SPOT led the tally with 20m shares but lost 78 paisa to close at 91 paisa. Fauji Cement XD gained Re1 to Rs11.52 on 14m shares and Pak Elektron (R) SPOT decreased by 99 paisa to close at Rs1.31 on 12m shares.
B.O. Punjab witnessed increase of 22 paisa to close at Rs1.56 on 4m shares; F. Nat. Equities (R) went up by three paisa to close at Rs1.24 on 4m shares; and NIB Bank gained nine paisa to Rs2.31 on 4m shares.
National Bank bagged Rs1.91 to close at Rs50.18 on 4m shares; Jahangir Siddiqui Company decreased by 26 paisa to Rs8.17 on 4m shares; Bank Al-Falah gained 54 paisa to close at Rs21.10 on 4m shares; and Lafarge Pak moved up by 55 paisa to Rs8.01 on 3m shares.