Pakistan shares end higher on in-line results

Encouraging company results helped Pakistan equities to rebound on Tuesday, with cement stocks and and textile major Nishat Mills climbing higher after their better-than-expected reports, dealers said.

They added that the market was also supported by cement sector, which saw rally after the Prime Minister’s announced various development projects.

The Pakistan Stock Exchange's (PSX) benchmark KSE 100-share Index up 0.48 percent or 163.18 points to close at 33,847.74 points. The highest index level during the trade was 34,027.62 points while the lowest level of the day was recorded at 33,681.96 points.  KSE-30 Index also increased 67.70 points or 0.35 percent to close at 19,567.09 points.

Analyst Arhum Ghous at JS Research said positivity prevailed in the market as the index rallied around 163 points. “Investor interest was seen in the cement sector as PM announced a number of major uplift projects in his speech yesterday along with anticipation of power tariff reduction in NERPA's meeting,” he added.

Turnover increased 51 percent or 87 million shares to 258.49 million shares, trading value surged to Rs11.96 billion against Rs6.45 billion while market capital rose to Rs7.01 trillion against Rs6.98 trillion recorded in the last session. Of a total of 367 companies’ active in the session, 185 recorded in green, 160 in red while 22 remained unchanged.  Fauji Fertilizer (down 1.77 percent) was the day’s laggard, eroding 25 points from the market as the company announced earnings and payout below expectations. Biggest contributors toward the index were Lucky Cement (up 1.89 percent), FML (up 5.00 percent), Packages Limited (up 5.00 percent) and OGDC (up 1.19 percent), cumulatively contributing 77 points.

“Going forward, we expected the market to remain range-bound between 33,500 points and 34,000 points as these levels have proven themselves to be tough support and resistance levels,” said the analyst.

Quarterly results of Nishat Mills (NML) and United Bank (UBL) were above market expectations due to which the scrips rose 2.0 percent and 0.8 percent, respectively. Highest increase was recorded in the shares of Unilever Foods XD, which rose by Rs100 to Rs5,500 per share, followed by Island Textile that increased by Rs40.03 to Rs840.65 per share. Major decline was noted in shares of Indus Dyeing, which fell by Rs21.37 to Rs700 per share, followed by Service Industries Ltd XD that decreased by Rs9 to Rs791 per share.  Significant turnover was recorded in stocks of Sui Northern Gas Pipeline Limited (SNGPL), Dewan Motors, WorldCall Telecom, K-Electric Ltd, Oil and Gas Development Company Limited, Telecard Limited, Pak Elektron, Dewan Cement and Silk Bank Ltd.

SNGPL remained the volume leader with 26.42 million shares with an increase of Rs1.48 to Rs33.28 per share. It was followed by Dewan Motors with 15.30 million shares with an increase of Re1 to Rs14.04 per share.  Shares’ turnover in the future contracts increased to 86.87 million shares from 64.33 million shares traded in the previous session.