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Friday March 29, 2024

Stocks inch higher as buyers see value in financial, energy shares

By our correspondents
November 18, 2017
Stocks inched higher in a range-bound session on Friday as investors moved into beaten-down financial and energy shares in search of better yields, with the benchmark index’s sideways movement this week and low volume underlining market caution, dealers said.
An analyst at Arif Habib Limited said the market remained range bound and investors were seen taking positions in small cap stocks. “ Energy sector scrips remained in the limelight… anticipation of increased use of LNG (liquid natural gas) and asset accretion to SSGC (Sui Southern Gas) and SNGPL (Sui Northern Gas) kept investors’ interest in oil and gas marketing companies.”
The Pakistan Stock Exchange benchmark KSE-100 shares index gained 0.08 percent or 31.09 points to close at 40,844.40 points. KSE-30 shares index shed 0.14 percent or 29.96 points to close at 20,662.51 points. As many as 349 scrips were active of which 178 advanced, 149 declined and 22 remained unchanged.
The ready market volumes stood at 115.620 million shares as compared with the turnover of 96.709 million shares a day earlier. Ahsan Mehanti at Arif Habib Corp said stocks closed higher amid speculations in the post earnings season rally at PSX on strong earnings outlook.
“Higher global crude prices, upbeat financial results in selected oil, banking and auto scrips played a catalyst role in positive close at PSX despite mid-session pressure on MSCI downgrades, foreign outflows and surging trade deficit.”
Stocks that contributed significantly to the index include Pakistan Petroleum (up 1.6 percent), Oil & Gas Development Company (up 1.02 percent), TRG Pakistan (up 5.0 percent) and Engro Fertilizer (up 1.48 percent).
On the other hand Pakistan State Oil (down 3.2 percent), Dawood Hercules (down 1.25 percent), Bank Al-Habib (down 1.1 percent) and National Refinery (own 2.9 percent) witnessed selling pressure.
Going forward, 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 for the benchmark index.
Companies reflecting highest gains include Phillip Morris Pakistan up Rs137.07 to close at Rs2,878.57/share and Sapphire Textile up Rs80.28 to close at Rs1,795/share.
Companies reflecting most losses include Colgate Palmolive down Rs120 to close at Rs2,310/share and Shezan International down Rs24.99 to end at Rs475.01/share.
Highest volumes were witnessed in TRG Pakistan with a turnover of 15.97 million shares. The scrip gained Rs1.75 to close at Rs36.79/share. Azgard Nine was second with a turnover of 12.65 million shares. It gained 51 paisas to close at Rs15.66/share. Worldcall Telecom was third with a turnover of 9.97 million shares. It shed 02 paisas to finish at Rs2.73/share.