Equities rebound

Pakistan Stock Exchange (PSX) Thursday witnessed a positive trend on the back of fresh buying by local and foreign investors. The benchmark KSE-100 index increased by 374.15 points to 49,588.30 points.
Foreign investors emerged net buyers of shares worth $3.6 million. However, trading activity remained low as the daily trading volumes on the ready counter declined to 263.260 million shares as compared to 417.525 million shares traded Wednesday. The market capitalisation increased by Rs 82 billion to Rs 9.816 trillion. Out of total 415 active scrips, 260 closed in positive, 135 in negative while the value of 20 stocks remained unchanged.
Aisha Steel Mill was the volume leader with 21.720 million shares. It gained Rs 1.30 to close at Rs 27.38 followed by Dost Steels that increased by Rs 0.89 to close at Rs 15.94 with 21.420 million shares. TRG Pak surged by Rs 1.19 to close at Rs 58.07 with 13.706 million shares.
Hinopak Motor and Wyeth Pak were the top gainers with Rs 77.75 and Rs 56.00, respectively to close at Rs 1,699.00 and Rs 4,426.00. Bata Pak and Service Industries were the top losers with Rs 150.00 and Rs 45.22, respectively to close at Rs 3,950.00 and Rs 1,472.00.
Zeeshan Afzal at Insight Securities said that the equities rebounded after witnessing correction for the last three sessions in a row. Despite gains across the board volumes, traded value couldn''t pick up as absence of a replacement to in-house leverage product was dearly felt. Cement sector came in spotlight after DGKC posted earnings per share of Rs 5.93 for the quarter, which clocked in higher than expectations which will eventually lead to revision in sell side estimates. MTL up 5.o percent, outstanding result for the quarter, coupled with the announcement to explore possibility of becoming a part of the Hyundai passenger vehicles JV. ISL up 0.82 percent, renewed interest as talks of stay order on recent anti-dumping duty fizzled out.
Nabeel Haroon at JS Global Capital said that the market opened on a weak note as lackluster activity was witnessed in the market during the initial hours of the trade. Later on, buying spree was observed in the market as investor confidence grew seeing no major selling pressure in the market. Index gained to closed (up 0.76 percent) higher than its previous day close at 49,588 level. Banking sector led the gain in the market, as it gained to close (up 0.5 percent) higher than its previous day close. UBL (up 2.42 percent), MCB (up 1.10 percent) and HBL (up 0.88 percent) were major index movers from the aforementioned sector. Investor interest was seen in the automobile sector as it close (up 2.21 percent) higher, where MTL (up 5.0 percent) and HCAR (up 3.56 percent) were amongst the major movers of the sector. DGKC (down 0.96 percent) and MLCF (down 0.26 percent) in the cement sector lost value to close in the red zone, as both the companies declared their first half FY17 result.