KARACHI: The stock market gained 129 points on Friday on expected release of Rs200 billion Sukuk.
The benchmark KSE-100 index of Pakistan Stock Exchange (PSX) closed at 35,125 points as against 34,996 points showing an increase of 129 points.
Analysts at Arif Habib Limited said that as expected, FTSE rebalancing proved to be a non-event today.
Market remained positive throughout the session, however, the gains were limited.
KSE-100 index went up by 212 points but ended 129 points just before the roll-over week begins.
Cement sector, which started the day on positive note, ended in red on the back of news that the reason for recent increase in cement price / bag does not hold good, which put a question mark on sustainability of recent price hike and therefore caused investors to sell Cement stocks.
On the other hand, Power sector stood positive on the back of upcoming release of Rs200 billion Sukuk issue by the government that will ease pressure on OMCs and Power sector liquidity.
E&P stocks, apart from PPL, also benefited from oil price increase.
Sectors contributing to the performance include Power (+83 points), E&P (+77 points), Food (+19 points), Cement (-18 points), Banks (-16 points).
Volumes declined from 163 million shares to 129.3 million shares (-21 percent DoD). Average traded value also declined by 7 percent to reach US$ 26.9 million as against US$ 28.8 million.
Stocks that contributed significantly to the volumes include SMBL, WTL, KEL, MLCF and PAEL, which formed 48 percent of total volumes.
Stocks that contributed positively include HUBC (+76 points), POL (+35 points), OGDC (+34 points), EFERT (+16 points) and NESTLE (+14 points). Stocks that contributed negatively include HBL (-10 points), FFC (-10 points), BAHL (-9 points), THALL (-7 points) and UBL (-6 points).
