KARACHI, March 5: Stocks on Wednesday staged a snap rally on strong short-covering at the lower levels boosted chiefly by analyst predictions of higher profitability of the banking and oil sectors during the current fiscal year. The KSE 100-share index recovered 1.5 per cent or 221.48 points at14,957.82.
“Essentially, it appears to be a MCB Bank-led rally, which has been under pressure for the last couple of sessions amid confusion of client selling,” said leading stock analyst Ahsan Mehanti “but once the issue is settled it was back on the track”.
But another leading analyst Faisal A. Rajabali predicts it was a judicious blend of both local and foreign buying and could be sustained during the coming sessions also as “only fools could miss the bait of massive capital gains at the current levels”.
However, it was not immediately known the quantum of foreign buying on selected counters where it figured heavily, he said.
MCB Bank, which has the largest weightage (11 per cent in the index) has at one stage during the last couple of sessions dropped below the barrier of Rs400 but on Wednesday finished with an extended gain of Rs12 at Rs420.90.
Other leading banks, notably National Bank, and Bank AlFalah and leading oil and cement shares followed them under the lead of PSO, OGDC, Lucky Cement, D.G. Khan Cement and PTCL.Although the index finished below its session’s high of 14,971.65, on late selling in some of the leading base shares, indications are that it will cross the barrier of 15,000 during the next couple of sessions. The increase added Rs68.452 billion to the market capital at Rs4,623 billion or $74 billion.
But on the other hand the KSE 30-share free-float index showed a much bigger gain of 409.65 points at 18,408.93 points on the strength of leading base shares.
Apart from analyst predictions of higher profits by the major sectors during the current fiscal, some positive developments on the political front, notably formation of governments at the centre and the provinces, was said to be another supporting factor, analyst Ashraf Zakaria said.
The market performance in the backdrop of successive suicide attacks and bomb blasts during the last couple of sessions reflects that investors seem to be in no mood to consider them a negative market factor and resume normal trading activity, of course, after initial shock and grief on the loss of human life, he added.
Plus signs dominated the list under the lead of JS & Co and EFU General Insurance, up by Rs30.05 and 28.75, followed by Shell Gas, MCB Bank, Adamjee Insurance, PSO, Shell Pakistan, EFU Life, Habib Bank, East-West Insurance, and Central Insurance, which posted gains ranging from Rs8.50 to Rs23.
Losses, on the other hand, were modest barring Unilever Pakistan, National Foods and AKD Capital were among the top losers, off by Rs50 and Rs31. Other losers included Pakistan Tobacco, Exide Battery, Murree Brewery, Bata Pakistan, Service Industries and HinoPak, which fell by Rs2.35 to Rs23, leading among them being HinoPak.
Trading volume rose to 268m shares from the previous 218m shares as gainers held a strong lead over the losers at 230 to 124, with 34 shares holding on to the last levels.The OGDC led the list of actives, up by Rs3.45 at Rs130.30 on 23m shares followed by Lucky Cement, firm by Rs5.40 at Rs134.35 on 20 shares, Fauji Fertiliser Bin Qasim, higher by Rs1.75 at Rs45.75 on 16m shares, PTCL, up Rs1.90 at Rs44.30 on 13m shares, and D.G. Khan Cement, higher by Rs3.60 at Rs109.95 on 11m shares.
National Bank followed them, higher by Rs5.30 at Rs265.25 on 10m shares, Bank AlFalah, steady by 45 paisa at Rs61.60 on 8m shares and MCB Bank, higher by Rs12 at Rs420.90 also on 8m shares, Nishat Mills, higher by Rs4.90 at Rs115.75 on 14m shares, and Bosicor Pakistan, firm by 25 paisa at Rs21.15 on 11m shares.
CLEARED LIST: MCB Bank led the list of actives on the forward counter, up by Rs12.20 at Rs419.20 on 8m shares followed by OGDC, higher by Rs3.50 at Rs131 on 6m shares and Lucky Cement, up Rs5.35 at Rs134.80 on 5m shares.
The PSO also remained in strong demand and was quoted higher by Rs5 at Rs266.50 on 4m shares and National Bank, up by Rs5 at Rs266.50 also on 4m shares.
DEFAULTER COUNTER: ?Invest Capital Bank led the list of actives on this counter, up by 90 paisa at Rs7.25 on 1.761m shares followed by Zeal Pak Cement, firm by 10 paisa at Rs4.15 on 0.575m shares, and Norrie Textiles, lower 10 paisa at Rs1.90 on 0.503m shares.
Other actives included Quice Foods, higher by 45 paisa at Rs4.70 on 0.481m shares, Japan Power, easy by 10 paisa at Rs6.55 on 0.253m shares and Taj Textiles, lower by 15 paisa at Rs2.95 on 0.197m shares.
