KARACHI - Stocks closed higher in the quarter-end earning announcements session at KSE after record earning announcement by OGDC. Investors remained cautious awaiting SBP policy rate decisions.
The benchmark KSE 100-share index posted a fresh gain of 84.74 points or 0.38 per cent to end the day at 22445.59 points as compared to 22360.59 points of the previous day.
Analyst Ahsan Mehanti said renewed foreign interest in selected stocks in oil and banking sector stocks, speculations ahead of key announcements on privatisation of SOEs and 3G licence auctions in telecom sector played a catalyst role in positive sentiments despite concerns for economic uncertainty.
Trading took place in 317 companies where losers beat the gainers by 164 to 132 while the values of 21 stocks remained intact. Nestle Pak was the biggest day price gainer, up by Rs 315 to Rs 6615, while the Bata (Pak) was the biggest loser of the day, decreased by Rs 65.58 to Rs 1808.67 .
Market traded 121.357 million shares after opening at 92.376 million shares and the value of traded shares climbed to Rs 4.806 billion from Rs 4.596 billion.
National Bank was the top traded company of the day with 17.218 million shares as it closed at Rs 49.80 after opening at Rs 52.33. JS Co was on the second position with 11.382 million shares. It was followed by JS Investments with 8.372 million shares, up by Re 1 to Rs 10.22.
In weekly review, equity dealer Samar Iqbal said peaceful eid holidays, better September results, improved global markets and Prime Minister’s US visit created positive atmosphere at local bourse. This resulted into huge foreign inflow during the week (USD31m from Oct 21-Oct24). Benchmark index reported gain of 4% during the week. Result-based activity was witnessed in stocks like APL, POL, OGDC, MCB, NBP, HBL, FCCL, HUBCO, KAPCO and other top leading companies which announced their results.
Going forward, inflation for October, IMF team visit to Pakistan and remaining result announcements will remain the key drivers for the market.