Ahsan Mehanti an analyst at Arif Habib said that local bourse closed higher led by telecom stocks amid speculations ahead of auction on 3G licenses and TRG announcement of subsidiary listing on London Stock Exchange. He said that Byco''s new refinery operations start-up, hopes for releasing $600 million US coalition support fund and ECC approval for allocation of gas to fertiliser sector had played a catalyst role in bullish sentiments at KSE.
Trading activity has also improved and overall some 185.426 million shares were traded at ready counter compared to 113.952 million a day earlier. Market capitalisation increased by Rs 10.49 billion to Rs 4.238 trillion from Rs 4.227 trillion. Out of 368 active scrips, some 167 share price was increased, 173 declined and share value of 28 companies was remained stable.
Among top 10 active scrips, TRG Pakistan was volume leader with 35.26 million share turnover and gained Re 1 to close at Rs 5.03. The share price of Byco Petroleum also increased by Re 1 to Rs 12.34 with 21 million shares trading. Maple Leaf cement up by Re 0.43 to close at Rs 15.29 on 14.6 million shares.
With 9.4 million share trading, the share price of Lotte PakPTA gained Re 0.18 to Rs 7.54, while the share price of Fauji Cement increased by Re 0.03 to Rs 6.44 and its 4.37 million shares were traded. Descon Oxychem and NIB Bank Limited increased by Re 0.65 and Re 0.12 to close at Rs 6.53 and Rs 2.47 with share trading of 4.37 million and 4.34 million share trading respectively.
Fauji Fertiliser closed at Rs 114.44, up by Re 0.13 on 4.2 million turnover. With trading of 4.1 million shares, Nishat (Chunian) lost Rs 1.64 to close at Rs 35.76. Engro Corporation also declined by Rs 1.49 to close at Rs 91.69 and its four million shares were traded.
Colgate Palmolive was the highest gainer and increased by Rs 49.98 to close at Rs 1,399.98, followed by Unilever Pak, which was up by Rs 24.47 to Rs 10,100 per share. Siemens Pakistan was te worst loser and decreased by Rs 8 to Rs 764, followed by Murree Brewery, which lost Rs 6.99 to close at Rs 132.96. Samar Iqbal an equity dealer said that on Thursday volumes increased to 185 million shares of which 30 percent was contributed by TRG and BYCO only where both the stocks closed at their upper circuit breaker.
"Listing of TRG subsidiary on international stock exchanged brought excitement in TRG. While, Byco was remained in the limelight on account of group synergies," she added. On the main board activity remained confined towards fertiliser stocks, cement sector and Hub Power Company, she mentioned.
"News flows suggesting commissioning of new refinery by Byco petroleum kept the stock on top of the volume leaders list, along with TRG on the intention of the company to get its subsidiary list on AIM LSE along with telecom stocks on likely auction of 3G license, invitation extended to Eitisalat by the Premier kept the momentum upbeat in the sector stocks," said Hasnain Ashghar Ali COO Escap. However, he said that, law & order and political issues were likely to impact the activity at the local bourse, ahead of elections and in post election scenario, due to questions on consistency in policies.