|
|
|
| January 15, 2007 | Monday | Zilhaj 24, 1427 |
Positive news keeps bourses buoyant
RECOVERY process was well-sustained on share market during the previous week as positive news followed in quick succession never allowing investors to keep to sidelines and miss the bandwagon.
Apart from positive reports about the banking sector by a foreign rating agency, the main factor behind the last week run-up was said to be reports of withdrawal of stamp duty on share business, which along with extension in capital gain tax exemption gave the needed push to an indecisive mid-week market.
Stocks finished in the second New Year week on a buoyant note as perceptions of higher capital gains did not allow investors to keep to sidelines amid active short-covering on selected counters.
The market’s buoyant outlook is reinforced by a fresh rise in the KSE 100-share index, which finished above the week’s peak level and ended with a fresh gain of 278.10 points at 10,425.46 as compared to 10,147.36 a week earlier. The market capital also swelled by Rs68.00 billion at Rs2,860.00 billion.
The KSE 30-share index followed it and also ended on the higher side, adding another 391.53 points to the previous total at 13,125.42.
The market did witness stray interruptions here and there over the week but at no stage the underlying sentiment showed signs that the current run-up is overdone.
Click to view the larger image
The other aiding factor was the presence of foreign buying on selected counters, notably oil, which is said will gain in stature in the coming weeks, lifting prices further higher, floor brokers said.
Stocks resumed trading on a firm note as investors remained active buyers on the blue chip counters in an apparent effort to give the prime minister a positive welcome.
Prime Minister Shaukat Aziz was in the city early last week and gave corporate excellence awards to top listed 25 companies for 2006.
Owing to his series of corporate reforms to restore sanity to stock trading both as the Finance Minister and the Prime Minister, Mr Aziz, has been very close to the hearts of brokers as he listens to their technical problems and tries to solve them well in time.
“It is during his tenure that new records were established both in terms of market capital ($55 billion) and index level (12,236), but not without some negative effects including market crash of 2005 and June 2,006,” analysts said. Although the market maintained its upward drive most of the week in a row, bulk of the buying remained confined to some selected sectors and failed to cover the broader market, brokers said.
However, the New Year is expected to be much better on the strength of higher corporate profits and payouts and sell-off of some of the leading state-owned units including PSO.
The market recovery was again led by the banking sector whose corporate earnings are said to be fairly impressive and most of them are expected to come out with higher dividend and bonus shares.
Oil shares and blue chips on other counters also came in for active renewed support and ended higher amid relatively larger volumes and ended on-balance higher despite late selling caused by falling world oil prices.
FORWARD COUNTER: Owing to late week’s push on combination of good news, speculative issues also maintained their upward drive and finished with fresh sharp gains under the lead of National Bank, MCB, Pakistan Petroleum and OGDC. Other leading shares including Engro Chemical and bank and insurance shares also finished on higher side—Muhammad Aslam
|
|
|
|
