Karachi: Pakistan equities surged as positive sentiments prevailed on Thursday. The rally was spurred by buying in cements and some other selected shares which helped benchmark KSE 100 index to extend gains by 285.52 points to close at 39792.10.
“Stocks opened on the higher side. Cement sector that had been under pressure in the recently past has posted a strong run as investors cheered reports of higher than earlier expected local cement dissipates for the first four weeks of August. Index heavy Habib Bank and United Bank contributed most points to benchmark index on reported foreign buying, followed by gains in DG Khan Cement and Lucky Cement. Meanwhile, Sui Southern Gas Company hit upper price limit after the company unveiled its aggressive capacity expansion plans to upgrade its transmission and distribution network”, said report by Elixir Securities. The SSGC plans to invest Rs 118.5 billion to improve and upgrade transmission and distribution system.
“The banking sector also saw bullish momentum as the government borrowed Rs. 215 billion against the target of Rs.100 billion in auction of Pakistan Investment Bonds PIBs allaying some reinvestment concerns for banks with maturing portfolios”, said report by JS Research.
Volumes were up to 297 million from 140 million shares traded on previous day. The trading value also surged to Rs 12 billion from Rs 7 billion.
K-electric again topped the volume leaders’ list with 25 million shares followed by Dewan Cement (18 million), Sui North Gas (13 million), NIB Bank (10 million), Dewan Motors (10 million), Dewan Salman (9 million) and TRG Pak Ltd (8 million).
Major gainers were Island Textile and Muree Brewery which recorded appreciation of Rs 54.27 and Rs 47.54 respectively while share value of Philip Morrris Pak. and Indus Motors suffered decline of Rs 78 and Rs 25.60 respectively.
Shares of 414 companies changed hands out of which value of 288 companies registered an increase while 108 remained in red zone. Shares of 18 companies remained unchanged.
Results: IGI Insurance announced 2Q2016 earnings of Rs 465 million and Earnings per Share (EPS) Rs 3.8 as compared to earnings of Rs 1 billion and EPS Rs 8.5 in the same period last year. BAFL announced 2Q2016 earnings of Rs 1.8 billion and EPS Rs1.1 as compared to Rs1.7 billion EPS Rs 1 in the same period last year. Both results were in-line with market expectations.
Outlook: Market analysts expect that the market will carry momentum and benchmark index may again hit 40,000 level on institutional flows while retail investors are likely to trade aggressively on last day of the futures roll.