Stocks inch up in directionless trade

Stocks gave up early gains in a directionless trade on Thursday to close marginally up as investors booked profits in blue-chip shares, dealers said. They added that the benchmark index tested the 50k and subsequently touched an intra-day high of 50,195 points but closed with a meager gain.

Ahsan Mehanti at Arif Habib Limited said stocks closed almost flat amid pressure in oil stocks. However, renewed institutional interest in banking and cement stocks supported the index to close above session lows. “Strong earnings outlook in cement, banking and auto scrips played a catalytic role in higher close.”

The PSX KSE-100 shares index gained 0.07 percent or 33.19 points to close at 49,908.15 points. KSE-30 shares index shed 0.07 percent or 19.58 points to end at 26,945.02 points. As many as 432 scrips were active of which 188 advanced, 220 declined and 24 remained unchanged.

The ready market volumes stood at 538.907 million as compared to 498.187 million shares a day earlier. Faisal Bilwani at Elixir Securities said equities closed little changed on a day that saw noticeable increase in activity as volumes on benchmark KSE100 Index shot up by 40 percent.

“Wider market struggled to find a clear direction in early trade while a surge mid-day pushed the index to test highs near 50,200 levels. A sharp swing triggered profit taking that wiped all the gains.” However, cements stood firm (Dewan Cements up 5.0 percent) on reports of merger & acquisition (M&A). DG Khan  (surged 5.0 percent) gained possibly on rumors of company likely committing equity stake in the Nishat Group's latest auto venture with Hyundai.

Sui Southern Gas Co (up 2.6 percent) and Sui Northern Gas Co (down 3.5 percent) had opposite fate as former gained on recent expansion news while later took a breather after gaining over 10.7 percent in previous three trading sessions.  Barring POL closed up 0.8 percent, while all other oil stocks closed red despite global crude inching up. Going forward, analysts see sharp swings and volatility near current levels, however a close above 50,000 points is expected ahead of the weekend with institutional flows likely pushing index to re-test previous highs as index names take the lead in days ahead. Companies reflecting highest gains include Colgate Palmolive up by Rs94.13 to end at Rs1994.13/share and Wyeth Pakistan up Rs72.80 to end at Rs4432.5/share. Companies reflecting highest losses include Bata Pakistan down Rs174 to Rs4120/share and Rafhan Maize down Rs113 to end at Rs7506/share.

Highest volumes were witnessed in K-Electric with a turnover of 61.737 million shares. The scrip closed at Rs10.21/share without any change in value. Power Cement was second with a turnover of 36.67 million shares. It gained 74 paisas to end at Rs17.99/share. Dost Steels was third with a turnover of 35.35 million shares. It gained 35 paisas to finish at Rs15.98/share.