STOCK MARKET UPDATE: 20.03.2013

STOCKS

Karachi Stocks Up 208.06 Points:
KARACHI, Mar 19: At the close of trading, the KSE-100 index was at 17700.06, up 208.06 points.

 (Today Market is 12.95 Up@ 11.01am)

March 19, 2013

 5 TOP GAINERS  &  LOOSERS:

UniLever Pak	Rs 263.75	Indus Dyeing	Rs (19.85)
Philip Morris	Rs 12.14	Fazal Textile	Rs (13.44)
Bhanero Textile	Rs 12.01	National Foods	Rs (13.28)
Sapphire Textile	Rs 11.50	Colgate Palmolive	Rs (12.62)
Indus Motor	Rs 11.06	IGI Insurance	Rs (5.11)

Stocks recover 201 points on foreign buying

KARACHI, March 19: Bulls were back in the market on Tuesday, as the KSE-100 index surged by 201.37 points to close at 17,693.37 points. Across the board recovery was witnessed on short covering and accelerated foreign buying.
The banking sector saw upsurge in prices as investors realised that the SBP circular regarding payment of profit on maximum monthly balance of deposits, may not, after all, dent the bottomline as badly as was feared.
The banking recovery was also aided by the ease of world markets’ concern over the levy on bank deposits by Cyprus, which had spooked investors, who dumped stocks, pushing the international equity markets in the red on Monday.
Textiles stocks benefited from low cotton prices while cements led the way to the top. The Mansha group shares, MCB Bank, NML, NCL and D.G. Khan Cement were in the forefront of market rise. Telecom sector also remained in the limelight after Sindh High Court hearing was deferred.
Foreign portfolio inflow on Tuesday was in the substantial sum of $4.11m, which helped lift prices of some heavy weight issues. Local institutional investors were generally on the sell side, while individuals and day traders had a field day in rising market with healthy turnover.
Equity dealers said that though suspense was thick in the air over the care-taker prime minister and his team, many were confident of a positive outcome.
Hasnain Asghar Ali at Escorts Capital commented that the market was concerned over the fragile economic and financial situation, ongoing judicial hearings and law and order related issues. The interim solution to address widening financial woes was thought to be negotiation of
fresh IMF program to be undertaken by care taker government.
Yet, the international lenders were likely to give a nod only with strings attached, including a hike in interest rate, which could be damaging for a wide range of sectors.
The volume of trade at 163m shares on Tuesday was up by 58m shares over the Monday’s turnover at 104m shares. Equity dealers however, noted that it was still lower than the average daily turnover in the previous weeks.
Trading value jumped by Rs3.07bn to Rs5.27bn on Tuesday, from Rs3.21bn the previous day. Market capitalisation increased by Rs35bn to Rs4.37 trillion, from Rs4.33tr on Monday.
In all, 321 stocks came up for trading on Tuesday with gaining issues at 199, twice the losers at 100. Another 22 stocks remained unchanged.
The biggest gainers were UniLever Pak, up by Rs263.75 to Rs10,908.50, followed by Philip Morris Pak higher by Rs12.14 to Rs255.05.
Other stocks recording high gains included Bhanero Textile, Sapphire Textile, Indus Motors and Pakistan International Container Terminal.
On the declining side, Indus Dyeing gave up Rs19.85 to Rs423.15 and Fazal Textile down by Rs13.44 to Rs255.51. National Foods, Colgate Palmolive and IGI Insurance were also big losers.
On the active list, TRG Pakistan saw the highest turnover of 16m shares, up by Rs0.51 to Rs6.88, Lotte PakPTA, down by 16 paisa to Rs7.76 on 13m shares, D.G.Khan Cement was stronger by Rs1.87 to Rs64.98 on 10m shares, Maple Leaf Cement saw turnover in 8m shares, higher by 59 paisa to Rs17.79 and Engro Corporation recovered Rs3.84 to Rs120.95 on 7m shares. Lafarge Pakistan edged higher by 5 paisa to Rs6 on 7m shares, PTCL added 20 paisa to Rs20.31 on 7m shares, Nishat Mills was firmer by Rs3.88 to Rs81.97 on 7m shares; Telecard Limited was up by 4 paisa to Rs5.97 on 6m shares and Byco Petroleum added 53 paisa to Rs12.32 on 5m shares.
Banks, textiles land Karachi stocks in green zone: KARACHI: A rallying banking sector landed Karachi Stock Exchange (KSE) in the green zone amid high volume trade here on Tuesday, Geo News reported.
The benchmark KSE-100 Index closed higher with a boost of 1.15 percent, or 201.37 points, at 17,693.37 points.
According to analysts a consolidating cotton prices came to give textiles a leg up in Tuesday’s trade.
By the time the traders called it a day Muslim Commercial Bank Ltd had jumped by 3.14 percent to Rs188.75 while Nishat Mills Ltd by 4.99 percent to reach Rs81.99.

MOHAMMED SALEEM MANSOORI