Stocks jump over 2.6 percent on bargain hunting

Stocks rallied 2.61 percent on Tuesday as blue-chip fertiliser and energy shares attracted institutional buyers, especially in view of the recent corrections in prices, dealers said.

Hammad Aslam, director research from Elixir Securities said activity picked up sharply as value hunters took advantage of the bargains on offer, and domestic banks accumulated shares worth $24 million in the last eight sessions. However, this was earlier overshadowed by more aggressive selling by domestic mutual funds and foreign investors.

“Unlike most other categories of investors, institutions have so far been able to time well, as they offload shares during the up-cycle and accumulate when valuations open up in turmoil,” the analyst added.

Pakistan Stock Exchange (PSX) benchmark KSE-100 shares index rose 2.63 percent or 1,096.17 points to close at 42,744.82 points.

KSE-30 shares index rose 3.17 percent or 645.31 points to close at 20,980.69 points. As many as 350 scrips were active of which 280 advanced and 58 declined, whereas 12 remained unchanged.

The ready market volumes stood at 140.845 billion shares as compared to the turnover of 88.458 million shares in the previous session.

Zeeshan Afzal, head of research at Insight Securities said local mutual funds and insurance companies remained major buyers on the back of expected Bull Run in the coming days.

Volume leaders for the day remained United Bank up 1.76 percent and Sui Northern Gas Pipelines Limited up 4.99 percent, which witnessed correction of more than 20 percent in stock price, making valuations attractive. DG Khan Cement also posted increase of 3.11 percent, Afzal added.

Nauman Khan, head of research at Foundation Securities said the market showed remarkable recovery. Valuation brought back investors and fresh buying pushed the index up by 1,000 points. “Caretaker (prime minister) name is to be finalised, and historically (during the last four caretaker se tups) the market has given a 15 percent return,” he added.

Companies with the highest gains included Pakistan Tobacco, up Rs70.00 to close at Rs2,070.00/share, and Wyeth Pakistan, up Rs39.04 to close at Rs1,501.04/share.

Companies with the most losses were Sapphire Textile, down Rs72.03 to close at Rs1,550.91/share, and Island Textile, down Rs54.99 to close at Rs1,085.00/share.

Highest volumes were witnessed in Fauji Cement with a turnover of 13.961 million shares.

The scrip gained Rs1.1 to close at Rs25.71/share. It was followed by Pakistan Elektron with a turnover of 7.391 million shares. Its scrip gained Rs1.62 to close at Rs37.44/share.

Lowest volumes were witnessed in Ghandhara Nissan Limited with a turnover of 2.26 lakh shares. Its scrip lost Rs3.65 to close at Rs73.14/share.