Banks, Engro help KSE regain 27,000-point barrier

Equities at Pakistan's Karachi Stock Exchange (KSE) stayed bullish for third straight day on Thursday as investors remained active in banking sector companies as well as Engro Foods which also resulted in hefty turnovers. The benchmark KSE 100-Index augmented by 1.26 percent or 343.57 points to 27,165.49 points Thursday as against 26,821.92 points reported Wednesday. The KSE All Share Index gained 1 percent or 201.15 points to 20, 361.22 points, the KSE 30-Index surged by 1.43 percent or 271.18 points to 19,290.76 points, whereas the KMI 30-Index shot up by 0. 57 percent or 255.34 points to 44,902.84 points. During Thursday's trading session, the key index touched an intraday high of 27,216.12 points as against an intraday low of 26, 821.92 points. The bullish rally was mainly led by banking stocks and supported by oil stocks and Engro Foods. Government raised record 530 billion rupees in PIB auction Wednesday which resulted in renewed interest banking sector as investors anticipate better earnings going forward. United Bank closed at upper cap while Faysal Bank gained 4.5 percent. Engro Foods also rallied amid unconfirmed news of its product price increase. Market volumes jumped by 131.553 million shares to 254.991 million shares from 123.438 million shares, the capitalization improved by 63.553 billion rupees (635.535 million U.S. dollars) to 6.567 trillion rupees (65.672 billion U.S. dollars), whereas trading value bolstered by 4.379 billion rupees (43.79 million U.S. dollars) to 11.051 billion rupees (110.51 million U.S. dollars). Of active 379 companies, 200 closed in green and 152 witnessed decline while values of 27 other scrips stayed unchanged. Faysal Bank Limited, Summit Bank, and Adamjee Insurance were the top traded companies with turnovers of 33.592 million shares, 26.699 million shares, and 12.453 million shares, respectively. Rafhan Maize XD was the top price gainer with increment of 430 rupees (4.3 U.S. dollars) to 9,030 rupees (90.30 U.S. dollars) while Nestle Pakistan led the major losers with decrement of 400. 20 rupees (4.00 U.S. dollars) to 8,549.80 rupees (85.49 U.S. dollars).