Stocks up ahead of earnings season; auto, cement lead gains

Stocks on Friday closed up almost one percent as investors, expecting robust earnings, bet on blue-chip shares, dealers said.

Analyst Ahsan Mehanti at Arif Habib Corp said stocks closed bullish, led by selected auto and cement stocks ahead of major earning announcements due next week.

“Recovery in global crude prices invited mid-session support in oil stocks,” Mehanti said. “A likely approval of fertiliser subsidies and an expected positive outcome of Rs180 billion exports package added to bullish sentiments.”

The KSE 100-share Index of the Pakistan Stock Exchange gained 0.72 percent or 351.01 points to close at 49,364.83 points.

KSE 30-share Index rose 0.52 or 135.73 points to end at 26,436.65 points. As many as 425 scrips were active; of which 262 increased, 154 decreased and nine remained unchanged.

The ready market volumes stood at 459.724 million as compared to 456.497 million shares a day earlier.

Analyst Abrar Juma at Global Research said the local bourse witnessed an exciting session as index continued its rising momentum and remained buoyant throughout the day.

“KSE-100 Index opened on an optimistic note with a positive change of more than 215 points owing to formal signing of PSX’s divestment agreement with the Chinese consortium,” Juma said.

During the second half, the index succumbed to selling pressure as it failed to break its psychological resistance of 49,500 points after government commitment to prevent insider trading.

Major support towards the index came from Nishat Mills (up five percent), contributing 28 points towards the index  as bargain hunters jumped in to profit taking from the enticing valuation provided by the share.

Packages Limited (up five percent), UBL (up 1.04 percent), and OGDC (up 1.18 percent) also supported the index by 73 points. Steel sector gained as euphoria for anti dumping duty continued for the second day.

Cherat Cement also hit upper circuit as the company notified investors about the commissioning of second line of production.

Analysts expect the market to remain under pressure owing to selling in the rollover week of future positions.

Companies, reflecting highest gains, include Bata Pakistan, up Rs198.79 to end at Rs4,190.99/share and Pakistan Tobacco, rising Rs59.15 to end at Rs1,385/share.

Companies, reflecting highest losses, include Wyeth Pakistan, down Rs92.51 to Rs4,739.99/share and Unilever Foods, falling Rs50 to end at Rs5,900/share.

Highest volumes were witnessed in Telecard Limited with a turnover of 49.057 million shares.

The share inched up 40 paisas to close at Rs5.55/share. Faysal Bank was second with a turnover of 29.823 million shares. It shed Rs1.37 to end at Rs27.11/share.

TRG Pakistan was third with a turnover of 19.036 million shares. It was up 46 paisas to finish at Rs50.63/share.