Stocks stage 305-point rally in year-end session
KARACHI: Stocks conti-nued to climb for the second day on Tuesday, posting strong gains of 305.31 points (0.90 per cent) to close at 34,398.86.
Local participants took fresh positions on the last day of fiscal year 2014-15.
Traded volume increased 18pc to 347 million shares while value rose 56pc to Rs12.6 billion.
Foreign investors sold $6.63m worth stocks, with major outflows of $5.6m from banking sector and $2.6m from fertilisers.
Cement sector rallied on the back of expected increase in cement bag prices. Maple Leaf Cement, DG Khan Cement, Fauji Cement and Lucky Cement gained 5pc, 1.3pc, 1.2pc and 0.8pc, respectively.
Analyst Ahsan Mehanti at Arif Habib Corp stated that stocks ended bullish amid renewed institutional interest in oil, cement and fertiliser scrips on strong valuations.
IMF release of $506m tranche and falling borrowing rates impacted the sentiments inviting interest in second- and third-tier scrips, ignoring the slump in global stocks and commodities amid Greece debt crises.
In banking sector, HBL rose 2.7pc and MCB gained 2pc. PRL added 3.5pc as it continued journey towards north due to recent initiative of isomerisation plant.
An overnight decline in global crude prices kept oil sector under pressure. Syed Khurram Mohinuddin, equity research analyst at Taurus Securities, said that the KSE-100 index posted return of 16pc in FY15 compared to 41.2pc in FY14, mainly due to low crude oil prices, falling banking spreads and tough textile fundamentals.
The growth momentum cooled off in fiscal year 2014-15 despite monetary easing, stronger external accounts, surging foreign exchange reserves, sovereign rating upgrade and potential re-classification of Pakistan to emerging markets.
During June, the index recouped 1,342 points (4.1pc).
Published in Dawn, July 1st, 2015
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