KARACHI: The stock mar­ket witnessed consolidation on Tuesday in the rollover week.

The KSE-100 index still managed to add 73.62 points (0.18 per cent) to the heavy gains recorded a day earlier. The index closed at 40,294.38 points.

The KSE-100 index displayed volatility, hitting the intra-day high by 186 points and low by 64 points. Volumes increased by 18pc to 574 million shares while the trading value was up by 22pc to Rs14.4 billion.

Most volume leaders were the second- and third-tier stocks with Bank of Punjab in the lead with 87m shares.

The automobile sector rallied on the back of a depreciating yen. Top-performers of the sector were Pak Suzuki (5pc) and Indus Motor (1.34pc). Global Securities ana­lyst Ahmed Saeed Khan pointed out that a rally was witnessed in pharmaceutical stocks after the Pharma Bur­eau chairman said the sector was likely to attract huge investments. Searle (1.58pc) and Sanofi-Aventis (5pc) were the biggest index movers in the sector.

Marginal positivity was witn­essed in the oil sector following the trend of global crude oil prices that rose ahead of the Opec meeting in Algiers.

Dealers at Intermarket Securities observed the market started out amid robust sentiments with textiles leading the pack on the back of expectations that the government may announce another incentive package for export-oriented industries.

The sentiment, however, rolled back after Nishat Mills (1.69pc) announced earnings per share of Rs14 for 2015-16, which was below market expectations.

ICI Pakistan closed at its upper circuit, as investors rushed to build their positions in the scrip after the company announced its plan to establish Rs4.8bn Morinaga infant formula plant in Karachi with an equity stake of 51pc.

Published in Dawn September 28th, 2016