Karachi: Bulls again dominated the stock market on Wednesday as the KSE-100 index gained 286.57 points (0.91per cent) to settle at 31,887.30.
The sharp recovery after a day’s decline on Tuesday was led by the heavyweight oil stocks.
Volumes traded stood at 256 million shares worth Rs14.4bn, slightly higher than 250m shares of Rs14.0bn that changed hands the previous day.
Brokerage Topline Securities stated in its daily report that the improvement in international oil prices and hydrocarbon discovery by Pakistan Oilfields (POL) and Pakistan Petroleum (PPL) invited investors interested in oil stocks.
POL and PPL closed at their ‘upper limit’ while OGDC gained 2.4pc.
“Cement stocks remained in the limelight on the news that the government has postponed increase in gas tariff till Jul 2015,” analyst said.
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Foreign investors were net buyers of $1.7m worth stocks on Wednesday with major inflow in the cement sector amounting to $7.6m.
Foreigners booked profit in oil and gas with net selling of $2.7m, textiles net selling of $1.4m and banking sector recording net outflow of $1.0m.
Mutual funds again led the local participants with net purchases of $4.9m. “In the last four sessions, local funds have bought shares worth $16.7m’, Topline calculated.
News that spurred oil stocks related to the announcement by Pakistan Petroleum (PPL) discovery of hydrocarbon in Tal Block, located in district Kohat (KPK).
Investors were also encouraged by the IMF forecast of Pakistan’s GDP at 4.3pc for FY15 while lowering its FY15 inflation projection to 5.5pc.
Analyst at a major brokerage house commented that higher OMC sales numbers along with MOL’s recent hydrocarbon discovery translated into a run in the Oil and Gas sector with PSO, POL, PPL and Shell all ending 4.3pc, 5.0pc, 5.0pc and 2.7pc higher.
Delay in proposed gas tariff hike coupled with 4pc higher cement dispatch numbers resulted in investor confidence in cement and fertiliser sectors as DGKC, FCCL, MLCF, EFERT and ENGRO closed higher.
A generally undervalued banking sector also posted slight recovery with NBP in the spotlight through the day, ending 3.5pc higher.
