Positive economic news take KSE to 24-week high: The News

By Salman Siddiqui

KARACHI: The Karachi stock market turned positive this week on the back of investment-friendly news, which helped revive interest and put to an end a long period of depression.The benchmark KSE 100-share index continued its upward momentum throughout the week and crossed 6,000 points. The index rose 6 per cent from the previous week to close at 6,143.81 points, a 24-week high.The free-float market capitalisation-based 30-share index surged 437.39 points or over 8 per cent to 5,778.61 at the end of trading week on Friday.

Volume in the ready market showed a substantial improvement over the week as strong activity was seen in top-tier stocks as well, after thin trading in most of these shares since the lifting of index floor on Dec 15 last year, said Atif Zafar of JS Research.Average daily volume in the ready market was recorded at 173.6 million shares compared to 108.99 million, showing a handsome increase of 59.3 per cent from the previous week.

Market capitalisation rose Rs94 billion to Rs1.936 trillion. Foreign portfolio investors, however, withdrew over $25 million during the week.Energy stocks led the rally with exploration and production (E&P) sector up 14.5 per cent, independent power producers (IPPs) 12.2 per cent and refineries 10.5 per cent. It was driven by value-hunters seeking double-digit dividend yield and renewed government commitment to end the thorny issue of inter-corporate debt, said Muhammad Saqib Sajjad of KASB Securities.

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