Daily Times

KARACHI: Bulls dominated the Pakistan Stock Exchange on Tuesday as the market crossed another psychological landmark. The main index jumped past the 44,000 level after having crossed the 43,000 on November 14, 2016.

The market traded neutral to developments of the Panama case. The benchmark KSE 100 index rallied up to record a new highest high of 44,236.89 with appreciation of 496.92 points. The index ended at 44,231.10, up by 491.13points, levels not touched ever before. The KMI 30 index ballooned higher by 1115.77 points to 74,785.76. The KSE All Share index also surged 309.55 points to close the session at 30,522.54. The advancer to decliner ratio stood at 217 to 175.

The market volumes edged up from previous session’s 345.47 million to 372.59 million. K-Electric Limited (KEL +1.84%) turned out to be volume leader, volume of 22.80 million, for the day after the Competition Commission of Pakistan (CCP) gave clearance to its acquisition.

Many cement stocks featured in the list of top traded scripts but the commercial bank sector again reported top cumulative volume of 59.85 million. The cement sector followed with total of 56.94 million shares traded.

The cement sector was star performer for the day after All Pakistan Cement Manufacturers Association (APCMA) released data for the month of November 2016. The industry achieved its highest capacity utilization of 98.61% and recorded sales of 3.749 million tonnes against 3.377 million tonnes in the same month last year. Local demand expanded from 2.843 million tonnes to 3.270 million tonnes in the same month last year while exports continued to contract, down 10.39%.

According to spokesperson of APCMA, exports are expected to remain under pressure as Afghan market is penetrated by Iran and export by sea is on the decline whereas exports to India have a positive trend. However, he was confident that growth in local demand would nullify this impact.

Eleven of seventeen scripts traded gained around 5%, including Attock Cement (Pakistan) Limited (ACPL +4.97%), D G Khan Cement Company Limited (DGKC +4.89%), Maple Leaf Cement Factory Limited (MLCF +4.99%) and Fauji Cement Company Limited (FCCL +4.98%).