KARACHI, Sept 22: The KSE 100-share index on Friday consolidated well above the psychological barrier of 10,000 points on active follow-up support, but analysts doubt its ability to sustain it during Ramazan owing to sluggishness associated with it and investor reluctance to go beyond certain limits.
But some others said its future direction was linked to the current buying euphoria in MCB, National Bank and OGDC – index heavy weights — and whether or not it would be sustained during the coming weeks also.
However, despite active profit-selling in the afternoon session, stocks managed to retain a good part of initial gains thanks to the presence of support at the dips on the blue chip counters.
The close of pre-Ramazan session on a steady note reflected that turnover figure may decline but creeping values of the currently undervalued blue chips were expected to keep rising during the holy month.
Some analysts were optimistic about the future share market outlook even during Ramazan on the perception that investors would try to square their outstanding positions in the extended period of in-house badla.
The KSE 100-share index did witness stray profit-selling above the 10,300 level in leading base shares but managed to finish the pre-Ramazan session on a higher note.
It ended the weekend session with 151.65 points gains at 10,308.75 as compared to 10,155.10 a day earlier while the KSE 300-share index closed at 12,856.26, up by 188.11 points as against Thursday’s 12,668.15 points.
The sustained bull-run witnessed during the last couple of sessions aided mainly by the one-month extension in the in-house badla facility up to Oct 30, was essentially led by heavy buying in the bank, oil and some cement shares, notably MCB,
National Bank, OGDC and Pakistan Petroleum.
The expanding daily volumes were reflecting the presence of leading investors both brokerage houses and financial institutions, says a leading analyst.
The market advance was led by National Bank and MCB, which virtually raced towards their pre-reaction levels on strong local and foreign buying at the still attractively lower levels.
Plus signs again led the list under the lead of MCB, Treet Corporation, Arif Habib Securities, National Bank, PICIC Insurance, National Refinery, AKD Securities, EFU Life and IGI Insurance, which posted gains ranging from Rs9 to Rs18.
Losses on the other hand were fractional barring Mitchell’s Farm Fruits, National Foods, Bolan Casting and Indus Motors, which were marked down by Rs3.50 to Rs7.
Trading volume showed a sharp increase at 278m shares as compared to 176m shares a day earlier as gainers held a strong lead over the losers at 170 to 98, with 31 shares holding on to the last levels.
National Bank topped the list of most actives, sharply higher by Rs9.25 at Rs246.75 on 51m shares followed by MCB, which maintained its sustained run-up for the third session in a row, higher by Rs12 at Rs258 on 40m shares.
Pakistan Petroleum, firm by Re1 at Rs232.50 on 16m shares, OGDC, up by Rs1.95 at Rs125.80 on 14m shares, D.G. Khan Cement, firm by 40 paisa at Rs97.25 on 13m shares, PICIC, up by 40 paisa at Rs69.70 also on 13m shares.
Other actives were led by Nishat Mills, higher by Rs2.50 on 12m shares, Bank Alfalah, up by Rs1.25 on 12m shares and Fauji Fertiliser Bin Qasim, firm by 55 paisa on 11m shares.
FORWARD COUNTER: It was a repeat performance of blue chips on this counter led by National Bank, up by Rs9.15 at Rs246.90 on 10m shares, followed by OGDC, higher by Rs1.55 at Rs126.20 on 7m shares and MCB, up by Rs11.50 at Rs257.90 also on 7m shares.
Pakistan Petroleum followed them, firm by 40 paisa at Rs233 on 5m shares and PICIC, steady by five paisa at Rs69.75 on 3m shares.
DEFAULTER COS: Unity Modaraba came in for strong support and was marked up by 15 paisa on massive activity of 7.747m shares followed by Norrie Textiles, higher by Re1 at Rs3.15 on 3.056m shares.
Among the other actives, Crescent Standard Bank, unchanged at Rs2.80 on 0.380m shares and Indus Polyester, higher by 70 paisa at Rs5.45 on 0.178m shares.
DIVIDEND: Fecto Cement, cash 15 per cent, Liberty Mills, cash 20 per cent, Al-Zamin Leasing Modaraba, 10 per cent and Ghandhara Nissan, nil.