KARACHI, June 8: The share market on Friday closed the pre-budget session on a optimistic note as market talk of corporate-friendly fiscal steps and incentives kept investors in an upbeat mood amid active trading.
How the market will react to the new budget would be known when the trading resumed in the post-budget session but the current volumes and modest rise in the index sans speculative buying shows brokers and investors are optimistic about the future corporate outlook.
The KSE 100-share index added another 37.49 points to the overnight total and was last quoted at 13,274.87 as compared to 13,237.38 a day earlier, reflecting the strength of leading base shares.
“Unlike the previous pre-budget sessions there was no panic among the investors associated with fiscal and tax uncertainties”, said a leading stock analyst Ashraf Zakria and, “in a way it reflects their confidence in the government’s official investment policies.”
There were, however, strong rumours of a number of incentives for the capital markets as the government is not inclined to reverse the current bull-run, he said.
In the election years the sitting governments seldom take a risk to tax the people beyond their paying capacity after all, ”a vote is more costly than the tax money,” another analyst Ahsan Mehanti said jokingly.
But there were buyers in the fertiliser, cement and bank sectors on buying triggered by pre-budget rumours about the incentives to these sectors, which also included tax exemption on farm loans for the banks and continuation of existing
subsidy to fertiliser companies, he
added.
So there was an air of optimism in the market but investors were not inclined to go beyond their pre-determined portfolio buying and mostly played safe as was reflected by mostly fractional price changes even on the blue chip counters.
Plus signs dominated the list, top gainers being Rafhan Maize, Unilever Pakistan, Nestle Pakistan and Rafhan Bestfood, which posted gains ranging from Rs40 to 106.
They were followed by Javed Omer, MCB, Sapphire Fibre, PSO, Pak-Suzuki, Packages and Pakistan Service, up by Rs7.15 to 18.05.
Losers were led by Arif Habib Securities and Siemens Pakistan, off Rs10.55 to 43 followed by Arif Habib Ltd, JS Global, National Bank, Alico, Bata Pakistan, Allwin Engineering, and Atlas Battery, off by Rs4 to 7.90.
Trading volume rose to 297m shares from the previous 291m shares as gainers held a comfortable lead over the losers at 180 to 133, with 50 shares holding on to the last levels.
The most active list was topped by D.G. Khan Cement, up 50 paisa at Rs114.80 on 18m shares followed by Askari Bank, steady by 35 paisa at Rs101.35 on 17m shares, JS Bank, higher by one rupee at Rs18.25 on 15m shares, Lucky Cement, up Rs1.35 at Rs113.40 also on 15m shares and Nishat Mill, slower 60 paisa at Rs130.10 also on 15m shares.
Other actives were led by Bank of Punjab, up 65 paisa on 14m shares, Bosicor Pakistan, steady 45 paisa also on 14m shares, TRG Pakistan, up 45 paisa on 13m shares, OGDC, lower 50 paisa on 11m shares and Fauji Fertiliser, higher by Rs3.25 on 10m shares.
FORWARD COUNTER: MCB came in for fresh support on the cleared list and was quoted higher by 5.80 at Rs364 on 9m shares followed by OGDC, easy by 60 paisa at Rs121 on 5m shares and D.G.Khan Cement, up 70 paisa at Rs115.50 also on 5m shares.
PSO followed them, which ended with a fresh sharp of Rs7.20 at Rs407.25 on reports of its sell-off by the end of the current month and Bank of Punjab, unchanged at Rs113.40 on 5m shares.
DEFAULTER COS: Nimir Chemical came in for active support and rose by 20 paisa at Rs3.45 on a large turnover of 0.774m shares followed by Zeal Pak Cement, unchanged at Rs5.05 on 0.181m shares, Quice Foods, easy by 25 paisa at Rs4.75 on 0.140m shares and Norrie Textiles, unchanged at Rs2.40 on 0.138m shares.