Bulls rule the roost

Bullish trend continued on Pakistan Stock Exchange on the back of healthy buying in various sectors and the benchmark KSE-100 index increased by 229.35 points to close at 49,859.39 points on Tuesday. The market opened on strong positive note on the back of local investors and institutional support and the index hit 49,920.96 points intra-day high level but could not sustain this level due to selling mainly by foreign investors. The foreign investors sold out shares worth $2.2 million and withdrew their investment from the market.
Trading activities improved as the daily trading volumes increased to 397.226 million shares as compared to 281.492 million shares traded on Monday. Total market capitalisation increased by Rs 29 billion to Rs 9.910 trillion. Out of total 416 active scrips, 252 closed in positive and 149 in negative while the value of 15 stocks remained unchanged.
Lotte Chemical was the volume leader with 50.317 million shares and gained Rs 0.65 to close at Rs 11.10 followed by TRG Pak that increased by Rs 1.67 to close at Rs 62.88 with 26.432 million shares. Power Cement surged by Rs 1.00 to close at Rs 16.57 with 19.431 million shares.
Sanofi-Aventis and Abbott Lab were the top gainers increasing by Rs 132.29 and Rs 50.62 respectively to close at Rs 2778.15 and Rs 1063.16 while Wythe Pak and Hinopak Motor were the top losers declining by Rs 102.40 and Rs 43.33 respectively to close at Rs 4571.00 and Rs 1706.67.
Nabeel Haroon at JS Global Capital said that positivity prevailed in the market as the index gained around 229 points to close at 49,859 level. Banking sector led the gain in the market as the sector gained to close (up 1.0 percent) higher than its previous day close. UBL (up 3.95 percent) was the major index mover from the aforementioned sector. Mixed sentiments were viewed in cement sector as flat growth of 0.34 percent was witnessed in the dispatch numbers released by the APCMA for the month of January 2017. DGKC (up 0.27 percent) and FCCL (up 0.42 percent) were among the major gainers, whereas on the flip slide CHCC (down 1.49 percent) and KOHC (down 0.79 percent) were among the major losers of the aforementioned sector. Both the gas utilities - SNGP (up 4.77 percent) and SSGC (up 5.0 percent) - gained to close on their respective upper circuit on the back of the news that the government has tasked them to lay down a pipeline for the second RLNG terminal from Karachi to Lahore. Profit taking was witnessed in ISL (down 2.08 percent), as the steel company lost value to close in the red zone after closing on its upper circuit for last four trading sessions.
Ahsan Mehanti at Arif Habib Corporation said that the stocks closed higher in the earning seasons rally after Fitch affirms long term stable outlook on foreign & local currency Issuer Default Ratings. Banking stocks outperformed on affirmed "B" rating on LC/FC Bonds & IDRs. He said robust earnings outlook in cement, fertilizer and oil scrips played a catalyst role in record close at the PSX.