KARACHI, June 5: The KSE 100-share index on Tuesday finally settled well above the barrier of 13,000 points boosted by heavy pre-budget and speculative buying in cement, oil and bank shares. The KSE 100-share index finished with an extended gain of 209.83 points at 13,166.77.
Apart from market talk of incentives for the corporate sector in the federal budget due to be announced on June 9, reports that the Privatisation Commission has approved the Initial public offer (IPO) of the Habib Bank was also widely welcomed.
An idea of the prevailing buying euphoria and price flare-up may well be had from the fact that investors ignored the negative news that Sindh High Court has disqualified Attock Group to participate in PSO bidding, brokers said. PSO share fell by Rs4.75 at Rs376.
The net rise over the session in the index was of the order of 209.83 points or 1.62 per cent at 13,166.77 as compared to previous 12,956.94 a day earlier as most of the leading base share ended higher. The free-float 30 share index was quoted higher by 340.18 points or 2.07 per cent at 16,752.55 points.
“The latest bull assault may not take it(index)to the widely speculated index level of 14,000 points but it could certainly pave the way for a fresh sustained run-up,” analyst Ashraf Zakria predicts. “There could be interruptions here and there but the near-term target of 13,500 points appears to be not that far away.”
The current wave of buying in the cement shares is aided by the perception that major chunk of higher allocations of Rs724 billion for the Public Sector Development Programme will go to this sector followed by strong speculative buying in D.G.Khan and Lucky Cement.
The fact that the market ignored the political tensions, relying on an investment friendly budget signals that the pre-budget sessions could spring many pleasant surprises for both the local brokers and the foreign funds during the next couple of sessions.
“It is the advent of the pre-budget rally actively participated by both the local institutional traders and the foreign investors,” a leading analyst Ahsan Mehanti said, “though terribly selective it has the capacity to take the entire market along with it new highs.”
He said leading bank shares were also actively traded followed by strong foreign buying on pre-budget rumour that tax on their income from farm loans may be cut or exempted. Oil shares responded favourably to increase in international prices.
Leading gainers were led by MCB, which rose to a record high of Rs367, up Rs16.80 followed by Rafhan Maize higher by Rs35. Other prominent gainers included Arif Habib Ltd, JS & Co, United Bank, Adamjee Insurance, EFU General and Life, IGI Insurance, Mirpurkhas Sugar, Indus Motor, Engro Chemical, Sanofi-Aventis, Siemens Pakistan and Bata Pakistan, which posted gains ranging from Rs8.90 to 15.
Clogate Pakistan and HinoPak fell by Rs5 each. Treet Corporation, Al-Abbas Sugar, and JS Global followed them, off by Rs2.75 to 3.10.
Trading volume swelled to 395m shares from the previous 287m shares as gainers held a strong lead over the losers at 230 to 110, with 43 shares holding on to the last levels.
The most active list was topped by D.G. Khan Cement, sharply higher by Rs5.45 at Rs114.75 on 35m shares followed by Lucky Cement, up Rs3.15 at Rs113.25 on 33m shares, Hub-Power, firm by Rs1.30 at Rs38.80 on 31m shares, National Bank, up by Rs7.10 at Rs260.85 on 28m shares and Fauji Fertiliser Bin Qasim, steady by 60 paisa at Rs37.95 on 22m shares.
Other actives were led by Pakistan Petroleum, higher by Rs6.25 at Rs268.75 on 13m shares, But OGDC fell by 50 paisa at Rs122.60 on 17m shares.
Bank of Punjab followed them, up Rs1.15 on 13m shares, WorldCall Telecome, steady 15 paisa on 22m shares and TRG Pakistan, lower 35 paisa on 17m shares.
FORWARD COUNTER: D.G. Khan also led the list of actives on this counter, higher by Rs5.50 at Rs115.60 on 11m shares followed by Lucky Cement, up Rs3.20 at Rs114.05 on 10m shares and MCB, sharply higher by Rs15 at Rs364 on 9m shares.
National Bank followed them, higher by 7.20 at Rs262.80 on 8m shares and Hub-Power, firm by one rupee at Rs38.80 on 6m shares.
DEFAULTER COS: Japan Power came in for active selling and led the list of actives, lower by 10 paisa at Rs4.90 on 0.990m shares followed by Nimir Chemicals, easy five paisa at Rs3.45 on 0.345m shares and Zeal-Pak Cement, up 15 paisa at Rs5.15 on 0.221m shares.