KSE rebounds on cement,financial firms; bargain-hunters swoop in

The Karachi Stock Exchange (KSE) benchmark 100-index rebounded on Thursday, helped by large cap and blue chip stocks on expectations of upbeat corporate updates, dealers said.
With results from just over one third of companies in the KSE 100-index is out, the earnings season has been generally positive.
Dealers said banks, cement and fertilizer stocks were trading with the fundamentals and investors picked buying opportunity there.
Analyst Usman Taufiq Ahmed of Capital Market Arif Habib Limited said a clarification from the DG Khan Cement that the company has not issued right shares for raising funds for its Hub plant and reports that the Engro Corporation would soon start LNG import have turned trade sentiment to positive in the second half of the session.
“If the DG Khan Cement would have issued right shares for expansion, it would have initiated price war among manufacturers and impacted their profit margins,” Ahmed said.
The KSE 100-Index gained 223.42 points, or 0.66 percent, to close at 33,942.28 points. The index moved both sides of the fence by 342.15 points between intraday high of 33,987.44 points and intraday low of 33,645.29 points.
KSE 30-Index gained 142.23 points, or 0.65 percent, to close at 22,085.46 points.
Volumes surged by 46 percent to 240.19 million shares. Trading value increased by 65 percent to Rs12.65 billion. And market capitalisation decreased by Rs25 billion to Rs7.68 trillion. Out of a total of 370 active stocks, 230 closed with an increase in their prices, 121 closed with decline, and 19 closed with no change.
The stocks played leading role in taking the 100-index up, including DG Khan Cement, Lucky Cement, Engro Corporation, National Bank of Pakistan, MCB Bank, Bank Al-Falah, and Dawood Hercules.
Muhammed Mobeen at JS Global Capital said the cement sector recovered from its recent profit-taking phase with Cherat Cement, DG Khan Cement, Fecto Cement, Maple Leaf Cement, Pioneer Cement and Lucky Cement all witnessing an upside.
Engro continued its upward momentum following its healthy earnings announced earlier this week to hit its upper circuit while Engro Fertilizer and Engro Foods saw healthy gains alongside.
Within the banking sector, National Bank rose 2.5 percent on expectation of healthy year end result. “Moving forward, we recommend investors to remain cautious and buy fundamentally supported stocks on dips,” Mobeen said.
However, oil, gas and electricity producing firms were subject to profit selling. Such stocks were including Oil and Gas Development Company, Pakistan Oilfields Limited, Hub Power Company, Pak Petroleum Limited nad Kot Addu Power Company.
Pakistan International Airlines was the volume leader with 24.08 million shares, as it closed at Rs10.25 with an increase of 94 paisas. This was followed by Pak Elektron with 22.56 million shares, which closed at Rs59.70 with a gain of Rs2.73. Jahangir Siddiqui and Company recorded trade in 17.13 million shares, as it closed at Rs21.46 with a surge of Rs1.02.