KARACHI
Pakistan shares resumed their bullish journey following settlement of Dawn Leak issue coupled with ongoing MSCI excitement, and closed at a new record close with oil and cement sectors leading the day’s gains. The benchmark KSE-100 scaled new highs soaring by 322 points to settle at the 51,426.01 mark.
Market opened positive with index heavy oils opening gap up as investors strongly reacted to overnight surge in global crude after OPEC members cut supply to Asia amid dip in US inventories.
Oil & Gas Development Company was the star performer contributing most points to Index followed closely by Lucky Cements that hit all-time high and settled just 12 points away from the 1000 points mark, said Ali Raza, analyst at Elixir Securities.
E&P’s, up by 136 points, were clear winners as OGDC, PPL, MARI & POL gained between 2.3%-3.5%, while LUCK (+1.8%) snuck in the top 5 as well to add 45 points .
Financials on the other hand traded mixed with United Bank witnessing profit-taking as it chipped away most points from Index while Habib Bank settling marginally higher.
Most activity was seen in small caps on retail activity with stocks to the likes of SMBL, WTL, DCL and BYCO seeing the most action.
Highlight was Sazgar Engineering Works that hit upper price limit after the company announced its intention to venture in Passenger and Light Commercial Vehicles business.
Market participation improved with volumes up 19% d/d to 398 million shares while traded value rose 20% to Rs 17.9/ $170 million.
Analysts expect ongoing bullish momentum to continue while activity in wider market was also expected to improve as MSCI upgrade date nears.
