Market watch: KSE-100 ends in the green for third consecutive day


KARACHI: The stock market gained points for the third consecutive day as support came from cherry-picking of retail and industrial stocks by local investors.

Political uncertainty due to impending Panama case verdict and Monday’s terrorist attack in Lahore caused minor fluctuations at the start of the session on Tuesday, but they failed to impact overall growth as the day progressed.

After Monday’s dull trading, volumes recorded a considerable growth, rising to 223 million shares. At close, the benchmark KSE 100-share Index recorded a rise of 388.69 points or 0.85% to finish at 45,917.90.

Elixir Securities, in its report, stated Pakistan equities added to the gains and closed higher as the benchmark index rose 0.9% and settled over 45,900 points.

“The wider market saw better participation, helped primarily by local interest in select industrial and consumer plays, resulting in volumes on the KSE All-share Index crossing 350 million,” the report said.

Although the market witnessed dull activity in the morning likely due to political noise and Monday’s terror attack in Lahore, the index gradually inched up as the day progressed.

Market watch: KSE-100 rises above 45,500 points despite dull trading

“Industrial and consumer plays including Sui Northern Gas Pipelines (+2.8%), International Steels (+4.9%), Engro Polymer (+3.7%) and Pak Elektron (+3.2%) led gains on buying interest from local institutions,” Elixir said.

“Sideboards too had a field day as many retail favourites such as TRG (+1.4%), Azgard Nine (+4.5%), Aisha Steel Mills (+4.8%) and Dost Steels (+4.1%) closed higher and dominated the volumes chart.”

On the results front, Honda Atlas Cars (+2.9%) closed higher after a surprise pay-out and better first quarter earnings while Pak Suzuki Motor (-0.6%) closed marginally lower because of earnings below estimates.

“Despite the benchmark index gaining for three consecutive sessions, we rule out the possibility of any sharp surge in the near term and levels of 46,100/300 will likely provide strong resistance as uncertainty over domestic politics very much remains,” the report added.

JS Global analyst Maaz Mulla said positive investor sentiment prevailed and the index hit an intraday high of +410 points.

Honda Atlas Cars gained as the company posted earnings per share (EPS) of Rs14.61 for the first quarter of FY17 with cash dividend of Rs4.18 per share.

KSE-100 index recovers, posts gain of 937 points

Pak Suzuki Motor from the same sector shed points as the company posted EPS of Rs24.20, which was below market expectations.

UBL (+0.52%), MCB Bank (+0.21%) and NBP (+0.82%) from the banking sector gained, cumulatively contributing 19 points to the KSE-100 index.

The steel sector extended its previous day’s gains as Aisha Steel, International Steels (+4.89%) and Dost Steels closed in the green zone. The fertiliser sector also gained as urea sales surged 79% year-on-year in June 2017.

“Moving forward, we expect the market to remain jittery as investors await the final verdict of the Supreme Court in Panama case and recommend investors to stay cautious and utilise opportunities to reduce short-term positions,” he added.

Overall, trading volumes rose to 223 million shares compared with Monday’s tally of 105 million.

Shares of 368 companies were traded. At the end of the day, 262 stocks closed higher, 95 declined while 11 remained unchanged. The value of shares traded during the day was Rs10.1 billion.

TRG Pakistan was the volume leader with 16.46 million shares, gaining Rs0.54 to close at Rs40.45. It was followed by Azgard Nine with 13.94 million shares, gaining Rs0.58 to close at Rs13.55 and Engro Polymer with 13.9 million shares, gaining Rs1.34 to close at Rs37.79.

Foreign institutional investors were net sellers of Rs116 million during the trading session, according to data compiled by the National Clearing Company of Pakistan Limited.


Original news : https://tribune.com.pk/story/1466426/market-watch-kse-100-ends-green-third-consecutive-day/