A rebound in international oil prices, speculations ahead of major earnings announcements next week, improving economic outlook and favourable Pak-US relations played the role of catalysts in bullish activity at the Karachi bourse on Friday.
The Karachi Stock Exchange (KSE) benchmark 100-share index ended the day’s trading with a rise of 0.46% or 156.78 points at 33,943.20.
El points.
Oil and Gas Development Company (+0.37%) and Pakistan Oilfields (+1.18%) closed with small gains with the exception of Pakistan State Oil that rose 3.19%.
Overall, the broader market recovered yesterday’s losses with Engro Corporation up 2.20%, Allied Bank Limited up 2.48% and National Bank up 5%, which hit its upper price limit.
Moreover, the volumes chart remained dominated by small-cap retail players such as Jahangir Siddiqui and Company (+1.3%), Pakistan International Airlines (+1.75%) and Pak Elektron (+0.75%).
The analyst expects the market to remain volatile and float around the 34,000 level, suggesting investors to continue to track flows. Next week’s earnings announcements for sector-heavy stocks namely Hubco, Fauji Cement, DG Khan Cement, Engro and PSO will give the direction.
Trade volumes fell to 249 million shares compared to 324 million on Thursday.
Shares of 353 companies were traded. Of these, 131 declined, 191 closed higher and 31 remained unchanged. The value of shares traded during the day was Rs14.7 billion.
Jahangir Siddiqui and Company was the volume leader with 33.7 million shares, gaining Rs0.30 to close at Rs23.32. It was followed by Pakistan International Airlines with 17.1 million shares, gaining Rs0.16 to close at Rs9.29 and Pak Elektron with 16.7 million shares, gaining Rs0.44 to close at Rs58.79.
Foreign institutional investors were net buyers of Rs224 million worth of shares during the trading session, according to data compiled by the National Clearing Company of Pakistan Limited.
