KARACHI, Dec 5: Stocks ended at a new record high on Wednesday amid hopes of a cut in interest rates. However, pressure was witnessed once the index reached 16,700 points as investors opted to book profits, brokers said.
The Karachi Stock Exchange (KSE) 100-share index ended 0.15 per cent, or 25.55 points, to record high of 16,675.70 points.
The index made an all-time high at 16,700.02 but could not sustain those levels.
Turnover, however, increased to 234.13 million shares, compared with 193.05m shares traded on Tuesday. Trading value also rose to Rs5.6 billion from the previous day’s value of Rs4.9bn.
Market capitalisation stood at Rs4.178 trillion, compared with the previous session’s Rs4.17tr.
“Index closed at highest close, led by oil and banking stocks amid speculations ahead of SBP policy rate announcement next month,” said Ahsan Mehanti of Arif Habib Ltd.
Consumer price index for November stood at 6.93 per cent year on year, down 0.39pc, month on month, depicting a deflationary trend, which has raised hopes that the central bank will continue to loosen its monetary policy when it meets this month.
Analysts are expecting a cut of at least 50 basis points to 9.5pc.
“Selling in PTCL (Pakistan Telecommunication Co Ltd) after PTA withdrew its previous notification regarding Suspension of Interconnection Circuits was the main limelight of today’s trading. Similarly FCCL (Fauji Cement) also remained under pressure after sponsors intimated that they have sold 330m shares in the market. On the other hand, Engro Foods closed at upper limit, thanks to institutional buying,” said Samar Iqbal, a dealer at Topline Securities Ltd.
According to reports, Fauji Foundation has sold 330m shares of Fauji cement so far.
The energy sector, which was the star performer on Tuesday, may remain under pressure as heavy weight Oil and Gas Development Co Ltd shed Rs1.17 to Rs188.99, Pakistan Oilfields fell 18 paisa to Rs422.08 and Pakistan Petroleum Ltd ended 57 paisa lower at Rs175.77.
Foreign investors sold shares worth a net $1.03m on Wednesday, compared with buying equities worth a net of $1.457m the previous day, bringing the total for the month to a net outflow of $1.19m. Banks were the major sellers in the market as they sold equities worth $5m.
The biggest gainer was Mitchells Fruit which rose Rs17.50 to Rs367.50, followed by Shezan International which ended Rs6.96 higher at Rs446.96.
Indus Dyeing witnessed the biggest loss for the day as it shed Rs30 to Rs590 followed by Sanofi-Aventis Pak which shed Rs18 to close at Rs357.
The KSE-30 index ended 0.12pc, or 16.01 points, higher at 13,503.65 and out of the 369 companies traded, the value of 164 increased, 193 decreased while 12 remained unchanged.
Among the 10-top traded stocks, PTCL fell 87 paisa to Rs17.01 on turnover of 27.19m shares, Jahangir Siddiqui Co Ltd gained 29 paisa to Rs18.77 on 23.92m shares and Lotte PakPTA gained marginally by 3 paisa to Rs7.23 on 16.63m shares.
Fauji Cement ended lower by 89 paisa at Rs6.82 on 14.22m shares, Byco Petroleum gained 65 paisa to Rs10.67 on 8.25m shares and Telecard Ltd ended 31 paisa lower at Rs2.51 on 7.94m shares.
Azgard Nine gained 7 paisa to Rs8.68 on 7.66m shares, Engro Foods Ltd closed Rs4.34 higher at Rs91.30 on 6.74m shares and Engro Polymer rose 44 paisa to Rs11.06 on 6.05m shares.
SuiNorth rose Rs1.24 to Rs26.18 on 5.98m shares.