Rs 20bn bailout fund sparks hope in stock market

[LahoreEstate]

KARACHI: A ray of hope for good times was sparked after a long and chaotic period in the Karachi Stock Exchange (KSE) on Friday when it was finally able to settle in the positive territory.

Stock analysts attributed the bullish sentiment in the market to the launching of NIT-SEF worth Rs 20 billion aimed at investing in the blue chips.

After losing 35 percent since the removal of floor on December 15 2008, the benchmark KSE-100 index was up by 40.39 percent over the last trading session.

Also the trading volumes, which dropped to a few thousands during the floor period, were substantially higher as 210 millions shares were traded. This is three times more than last trading session, when 75 million shares were traded.

"It was quite encouraging and heartening to see the surfacing of bullish activity in the market, which went through its worst times in the history," a stock investor commented.

Investors and brokers were jubilant on the recovery of the market, which lost more than 10,000 points since its peak level of 15,676 some eight months back.

"We are hopeful that the positive trend in the market will prevail in the coming sessions as all the disputes and issues concerning the stock business have been settled," according a number of brokers and directors of KSE.

"We hope that the harsh and jittery times of 2008, which was the worst year for the stock market, are over and the market would gain its lost momentum again."

Only the news of the said fund has pumped in some energy in the market and analysts believe as soon as the fund starts investing in the market the gains would be much higher.

Although, NIT has not given a specific date for investing in the stock market, the general consensus was that it would most probably coming into action by the next trading session on Monday.

"Since the issues have been settled and the levels are quite attractive, buying spree could be seen in the market during the next week," Dawood Jan Mohammad, former director KSE noted.

Analysts, however didn't rule out some correction in the coming sessions, but that would not be a source of concern and it is expected that the market would absorb this loss in the future.

Among the top volume leaders, significant buying activity was seen in the scrips, which are included in the list of companies, for which Rs 20 billion NIT-SEF would be utilised.

OGDCL, being the heavyweight of the stock market was the most-sought after scrip in today's session as it's 28 million shares changed hands during the day.

http://www.dailytimes.com.pk/default.asp...2009_pg5_4