KARACHI: The stock market kicked-off May on a strong note, with the index rising healthily on the opening day of trading for the month.
“Due to across the board accumulation by active market participants, the bull-run sustained throughout the session. It was joined by banking stocks in the post midday session, thus allowing frontline stocks to make substantial and balanced volumetric contributions to both trading and investments,” said Hasnain Asghar Ali, SVP Sales at Invisor Securities.
The Karachi Stock Exchange’s (KSE) benchmark 100-share index surged 1.09% or 152.14 points to end at the 14,142.52 point level.
“Led by institutional buying in Engro, DG Khan Cement and Pakistan Telecommunication Company (PTCL), the market comfortably closed above the 14,000 points level,” reported Samar Iqbal, equity dealer at Topline Securities. “Ignoring the rising political temperature, investors built new positions in anticipation of the upcoming budget, which is expected to provide relief to the industrial sector.”
Trade volumes improved to 246.39 million shares, compared with Monday’s tally of 164.07 million shares. The value of shares traded during the day was Rs6.21 billion.
Shares of 381 companies were traded on Wednesday. At the end of the day 234 stocks closed higher, 88 declined while 59 remained unchanged. The Karachi Electric Supply Corporation was the volume leader with 20.65 million shares gaining a staggering 20.81% or Rs0.77 to finish at Rs4.47. It was followed by PTCL with 18.62 million shares gaining a tidy 7.73% or Rs0.97 to close at Rs13.52 and Lafarge Pakistan with 13.64 million shares gaining an impressive 9.11% or Rs0.44 to close at Rs5.27.
“Bullish activity in global stocks and commodities after strong US manufacturing data renewed foreign interest, playing a catalyst role in bullish sentiments at KSE,” informed Ahsan Mehanti, director at Arif Habib Corp. “Institutional interest was witnessed in oversold stocks across the board, amid consolidation on lower volumes,” he added.
Foreign institutional investors were net buyers of Rs735.93 million, according to data maintained by the National Clearing Company of Pakistan Limited.
Published in The Express Tribune, May 3rd, 2012.
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