Stocks edge up in low volumes, boosted by second-tier shares

Stocks rose slightly on Thursday, supported by financial and energy sectors, with gains in second-tier shares lifting the index through volumes hit rock bottom, dealers said.
An analyst at Elixir Securities said equities closed marginally positive after lackluster trading with less than $50 million worth of shares exchanging hands on the KSE All Shares Index.
The Pakistan Stock Exchange KSE-100 shares index gained 0.37 percent or 150.52 points to close at 40,813.31 points. KSE-30 shares index gained 0.45 percent or 91.98 points to close at 20,692.47 points.
As many as 356 scrips were active of which 166 advanced, 160 declined and 30 remained unchanged. The ready market volumes stood at 96.709 million shares as compared with the turnover of 90.37 million shares a day earlier.
Ahsan Mehanti at Arif Habib Corp said stocks showed recovery on investor interest in selected scrips amid speculations on higher global crude prices and upbeat auto, oil and fertilizer sales. “Institutional support remained in the market despite foreign outflows, MSCI-EM downgrades and uncertainty in global stocks,” he added. “Robust financial results in selected oil, banking and auto stocks played a catalytic role in higher close at PSX”.
Engro Corp (up 1.3 percent), lost around by 7.6 percent in the last two sessions following its downgrade from MSCI EM Index, closed in green. Maaz Mulla at JS Global Capital said the government was reportedly contemplating closing the furnace oil power plants which could potentially dent profitability of the power and oil marketing sector going forward. Hub Power (HUBC), Kot Addu Power ( KAPCO), Pakistan State Oil (PSO) and Nishat Power (NPL), all closed in the red zone”.
Overall, Index names saw little activity, while volumes charts were primarily dominated by small and mid caps on retail activity. Analysts expect range bound and volatile trading in the near-term, however flows, primarily from institutions can help resume the uptrend with chartists eyeing 42K as an immediate target level.
Companies reflecting highest gains include Colgate Palmolive up Rs109 to close at Rs2,430/share and Pakistan Tobacco up Rs62 to close at Rs1,312/share.
Companies reflecting most losses include Unilever Foods down Rs250 to close at Rs6,800/share and Sapphire Textile down Rs90.24 to end at Rs1,714.72/share.
Highest volumes were witnessed in Azgard Nine with a turnover of 13.54 million shares. The scrip gained 33 paisas to close at Rs15.15/share.
TRG Pakistan was second with a turnover of 7.67 million shares. It gained 49 paisas to close at Rs35.04/share. K-Electric was third with a turnover of 5.7 million shares. It shed 02 paisas to finish at Rs5.39/share.