The bear-run entered third day on Thursday, with the KSE 100-share index falling under the psychological level of 12,500 points, owing to profit-booking by the investors in the scrips of the blue chip companies across the board. Limited foreign interest, concerns over rising fiscal deficit affected the investor sentiment despite value buying of selected scrips on expectation of strong earnings announcements The Karachi Stock Exchange's benchmark 100-share index closed at 12,411.81 points after losing 165.74 points. The index had ended at 12,577.61 on Wednesday. According to daily market statistics, volumes shrunk to 183.61 million shares from 188 million shares traded previously. KSE market capitalization amounted to Rs3, 358.14 billion or $39.18 billion. Total ready market value was recorded at Rs7.57 billion or $88.34 million. The market data showed that KSE 30-index closed at 12,115.84 with massive decline of 210 points or 1.70 per cent. KSE future volume came at 11.67 million w...

ISLAMABAD – January 12: The Securities and Exchange Commission of Pakistan (SECP) has filed a criminal complaint in a court against Eastern Capital Limited, ex-member of the Karachi Stock Exchange (KSE) and all those, including its director, involved in non-transfer of shares/funds and unauthorized pledges of client’s shares and other prohibited activities under Section 24(2) of the Central Depositories Act 1997 as well as offences under relevant provisions of the Pakistan Penal Code (PPC). The warrants for all the accused have been issued. The SECP received numerous complaints/claims against five KSE brokers mainly pertaining to the alleged non-transfer of shares and non-payment of funds. The SECP directed the brokers to expedite resolution of complaints/claims and issued instructions for the immediate transfer of shares/funds to the claimants. The brokers failed to remedy the situation, obliging the SECP to suspend registration of Eastern Capital Limited and four other brokers. More...

The Karachi stock market closed at more than a 30-month high Thursday on strong valuations in the scrips of oil and gas and fertilizer sectors across the board, ahead of earnings announcement session. Bullish sentiments continued to hit retail and institutional investors in an anticipation of early approval of leverage products by the Security and Exchange Commission of Pakistan. The Karachi Stock Exchange’s benchmark 100-share index ended 1.50 percent, or 182.63 points, up at 12,323.47, its highest close since June 2008. The index had closed at 12,140.84 on Wednesday. Volumes stood at 144.29 million shares against 168.22 million shares of Wednesday. Market capitalization amounted to Rs3, 336.28 billion or $38.89 billion. Ready market value accounted for Rs7.91 billion or $92.17 million. The KSE 30-index surged by 1.46 per cent or 171.15 points to close at the level of 11,888.43. KSE future volume came at 7.83 million shares while value stood at Rs1, 189.35 million with 1.12 per cent f...

A meeting of the Securities and Exchange Commission of Pakistan headed by the SECP chairman with member directors of the outgoing board of the Karachi Stock Exchange and newly elected directors was held here on Friday. The meeting resolved various outstanding issues amicably. Regarding the matter of chairman of the board of the exchange, the SECP chairman emphasized that for good corporate governance and in line with international best practices, the chairman of the board would continue to be from among the non-member directors. The SECP approved the appointment of acting managing director for an interim period and reiterated the need for an early completion of transparent process for the appointment of a permanent managing director at the exchange. It was agreed by the KSE board members that the functions of internal audit and market surveillance at the exchange would remain in place. Further, the board members assured their cooperation and commitment in managing the affairs of the...

By Tanveer Ahmed KARACHI: Overcoming all the odds at the political and economic fronts, country’s capital market managed to sail through the turbulent water comfortably by posting 28 percent returns in the calendar year 2010. Starting the journey below 10,000 psychological barrier at 9386 at the beginning of the year, benchmark KSE-100 index settled well above 12022 points level on the last trading day of the year on Friday. A market experiencing low trading volume was exceptionally good when it came to returns by registering 28 percent gains and 26 percent in dollar terms, which owed to flooding of the foreign money in the market especially during the last quarter of the year. “Strong foreign inflows and recovery in corporate earnings led to a strong market performance in the final quarter with the index witnessing more than 71% of the gains in last three months of the year,” analyst Umar Bin Ayaz at JS Global Research said. Foreigners remained active in the market with net buying of ...

The Karachi stock market crossed the psychological level of 12,000 points on Thursday on support from foreign interest in blue chips. Foreign interest was witnessed in oil and gas, bank and fertilizer scrips. The Karachi Stock Exchange (KSE) 100-share index gained 145.44 points or 1.22 percent to close at 12,031.46 points as compared to 11,886.02 points of the previous session. The KSE 30-share index also rose 141.70 points to close at 11,588.97 points as compared with 11,447.27 points. “Bullish activity was witnessed in scrips across-the-board on strong foreign interest in oil and gas, bank and fertilizer scrips,” said Arif Habib Investment Ltd Director Ahsan Mehanti. “Higher banking sector spreads, international oil prices over $91 and expectations of strong result announcements played a catalyst role in the positive activity at KSE despite concerns over rising political uncertainty.” The market turnover went up by 40.33 percent to 140.04 million shares after opening at 99.79 million...

KARACHI: Members of Karachi Stock Exchange (KSE) on Wednesday elected five member-directors on board. Accordingly, Arif Habib, Muhammad Sohail, Zafar Moti, Ashraf Bawa, and Qasim Lakhani were the top five vote gainers and declared elected member-directors on board for the next one-year term.