karachi
Stocks closed all time high in the pre-budget rally amid speculations for a pro-investors federal budget due on June 3.
Continued bullish trend and healthy foreign flows in previous session helped KSE benchmark index to close at 29737.69 points with fresh gain of 194.11 points. Ahsan Mehanti, analyst at Arif Habib Corp, said institutional support remained in selected stocks across the board. PSDP commitments of over 1.3trn, ECC approval for Nepra to adjust tariff for debt servicing and foreign portfolio investment in banking, oil and cement sectors following MSCI FM weight revisions in April ‘14 played a catalyst role in bullish sentiments at KSE. KSE-Allshares gained 120.86 points or 0.55 percent to end the day at 21960.78 points, KSE-30 index up by 124.70 points or 0.62 percent to conclude the session at 20352.35 points and KMI-30 grew by 261.70 points or 0.56 percent to conclude the session at 46986.24 points. Karachi Index witnessed a bullish week as index rose by 3.41pc.
With 57pc average increasing volume of 235 million shares, value rose by 80pc to average Rs 11 billion, whereas market capitalisation also crossed $70 billion mark. Sentiments were influenced by Prime Minister’s visit to India and news of lower-than-expected rise in CGT in next fiscal year, as expectations of investor-friendly budget remain high, Samar Iqbal AVP at Topline observed here.
The day turnover in terms of shares was 330.814 million shares compared to 351.338 million shares of a day earlier. Traded value rose to Rs. 17.741 billion from Rs 15.726 billion while the market capitalisation maintained above $70 billion mark.
Trading took place in 374 companies where loser beat the gainers 192 to 165 while the value of 17 stocks remained intact. Murree Brewery and Bahanero Tex led the downhill trend decreased by Rs 52.14 to Rs 1008.25 and Rs 41.27 to Rs 784.29. Sanofi-Aventis and Island Textile were the biggest price gainers of the day increased by Rs 45 to Rs 945 and Rs 43 to 903.
BYCO Petroleum led the volume with 32.419 million shares gained Re 0.74 to Rs 12.39, followed by LPCL with 27.226 million shares up by Re 0.33 to Rs 14.89, KEL which has been rallying with huge volumes in previous sessions saw some profit taking with 25.647 million shares shed by Re 0.30 to Rs 8.55, Fauji Cement with 22.510 million shares added Re 0.65 to Rs 18.38 and National Bank with 18.713 million shares grew by Re 0.75 to Rs 60.76.