STOCK MARKET UPDATE: 24.01.2013

STOCKS

Karachi Stocks Up 11.86 Points:
KARACHI, Jan 23: At the close of trading, the KSE-100 index was at 16905.95, up 11.86 points. 

(Today Market is 81.46 Up@ 11.04 am)

January 23, 2013

5 TOP GAINERS  &  LOOSERS:

Nestle Pakistan	Rs 176.25	Colgate Palmolive	Rs (74.75)
UniLever Pak	Rs 49.99	Biafo Industries	Rs (4.00)
Bata Pak	Rs 28.95	Agriautos Industries	Rs (3.06)
Mithchells Fruit	Rs 16.27	Pak Oilfields	Rs (2.67)
Gatron Industries	Rs 8.41	ICI Pak	Rs (2.05)

Stocks manage modest gains on select buying

KARACHI, Jan 23: Stocks ended higher on Wednesday as investors cherry picked shares in which they expected healthy profits for December end profits, however profit booking was witnessed as the index got closer to 17,000 points, dealers said.
The KSE 100-share index ended 0.09 per cent, or 14.58 points, higher at 16,908.67 points. It traded in a very narrow range as it made an intra-day high and low at 16,949.14 and 16,869.43, respectively.
Turnover increased to 217.69 million shares, compared with 184.13m shares traded on Tuesday but trading value fell to Rs5.49 billion from Rs6.29bn in the previous trading session. Market capitalisation was flat at Rs4.22 trillion, unchanged from Monday’s Rs4.22tr.
“While the benchmark along with various frontline stocks traded in a narrow band, speculative activity mainly on technical signals in Engro kept the intra-day traders active through the session thus allowing the stock to top the volume leaders list from amongst the frontline stocks category,” said Hasnain Asghar Ali from Escorts Capital.
Heavyweight Oil and Gas Development Co also helped the market close in the positive territory as it rose Rs1.28 to Rs190.24.
However profit-taking was witnessed in Pakistan Oilfields as it shed Rs2.67 to Rs449.24 and Pakistan Petroleum Ltd ended 49 paisa lower at Rs178.48.
“Mid cap cement stocks like FCCL (Fauji Cement) and MLCF (Maple Leaf Cement) remained in the limelight ahead of their Dec results. FFC (Fauji Fertiliser) came down after its result announcement as few investors were expecting bonus issue also,” said Samar Iqbal, a dealer at Topline Securities Ltd.
Fauji Fertiliser ended Rs1.77 lower at Rs118.59. The company reported a seven per cent year-on-year decline in its profit after tax to Rs20.84bn translating into an EPS of Rs16.38, compared with a PAT of Rs22.49bn and EPS of Rs17.68 recorded in last year.
According to Summit Capital massively higher cost of sales, substantial increase in distribution cost, huge upsurge in financial cost, and hefty drop in other income were the key factors which impacted the earnings negatively. The company also announced a final cash dividend of Rs5 per share taking full year dividend to Rs15.50 per share.
Foreign investors also continued their fresh buying on Wednesday as they bought shares worth a net $458,550 after buying a net $1.20 million on Tuesday, bringing the total for this month at $6.54m.
Individuals were the major sellers with equity worth $5.06m.
The biggest gainer was Nestle Pakistan which ended Rs176.25 higher at Rs4,776.25, followed by Unilever Pakistan Ltd which closed Rs49.99 higher at Rs9.949.99. Colgate Palmolive witnessed the biggest loss as it shed Rs74.75 to Rs1,424 followed by Biafo Industries, which ended Rs4 lower at Rs81.
The KSE-30 index ended 0.13pc, or 17.77 points, higher at 13,806.38.
Out of the 346 companies traded, the value of 177 increased, 148 decreased while 21 remained unchanged.
The second and third tier companies dominated the 10 most active traded stocks: Fauji Cement topped the list as it ended 9 paisa higher at Rs7.48 on turnover of 35.12 million shares, Maple Leaf Cement gained 64 paisa to Rs16.86 on 28.10m shares and Jahangir Siddiqui Co Ltd rose 65 paisa to Rs16.34 on 21.16m shares.
TeleCard Ltd increased by 37 paisa to Rs2.8 on 14.02m shares, Engro Corp ended Rs1.83 higher at Rs90.37 on 11.24m shares and Pakistan Telecommunications Co Ltd rose 50 paisa to Rs17.36 on 8.58m shares.
Lafarge Pakistan ended 25 paisa higher at Rs5.30 on 7.16m shares, WorldCall Telecom gained 16 paisa to Rs2.48 on 6.62m shares and National Bank of Pakistan rose 4 paisa to Rs51.30 on 6.10m shares.
However, DG Khan Cement marginally fell 1 paisa to Rs53.79 on 5.33m shares.

Company News:

FFC profit down 7pc: KARACHI, Jan 23: The Fauji Fertiliser Company (FFC) announced results for the year ended Dec 31, 2012 on Wednesday posting profit after tax (PAT) at Rs20.84 billion, translating into earning per share (eps) at Rs16.4, down 7 per cent from PAT at Rs22.49 billion and eps at Rs17.7 the previous year.
The board recommended final cash dividend at Rs5 per share, taking the full year payout at Rs15.50 per share. Analysts said that the earnings were mainly in line with expectations. However, some brokerages and investors who were expecting a bonus issue tied to the cash dividend, were disappointed.
The share in FFC lost Rs1.77 to Rs118.59 at the KSE on a volume of 3.4 million shares.
Topline Research stated the company’s revenue grew by 34pc to Rs74.3bn, primarily on the back of higher urea prices as the volumetric sales declined by 1pc. However, higher increase in the cost of goods sold put pressure on the company’s gross margin, which shrank to 48pc in 2012 as against 62pc last year.
Also, the higher distribution costs (up by 27pc to Rs5.5bn) and lower dividend from subsidiary, Fauji Fertiliser Bin Qasim (FFBL) also restricted bottom-line of the company.
Alone in fourth quarter (4Q2012), FFC posted eps of Rs5.50 against eps of Rs6.80, down 8pc from the same quarter last year but it surged 103pc over the earlier quarter.
Muhammad Sarfraz Abbasi, analyst at brokerage, SummitCapital stated that there were four key factors which were drag on earnings: Massive increase in cost of sales; substantial increase in distribution cost; heavy upsurge in financial costs and steep decline in ‘other income’.
The company reported 35pc YoY higher sales to Rs74.32bn as against the sales of Rs55.22bn in CY11. Growth in sales was attributed to the slightly better urea prices as well as the sale of imported DAP on improved prices which helped in terms of increase in revenue in a situation when its urea offtake was substantially lower.
Tahir Abbas, analyst at Arif Habib Securities stated that net revenue of the company jumped by 35pc YoY to PKR 74bn in CY12.
This growth is mainly on account of higher Urea prices, showing increase of 17pc YoY during CY12, which undermines the absence of any volumetric growth. FFC’s urea offtake was estimated at 2,423 thousand tons in CY12 versus 2,403 thousand tons in the last year, a meager increase of 1pc YoY.
Ayub Ansari, Analyst at AKD Securities observed that factors contributing to the sequential earnings increase in the 4Q2012 were: growth of 75 per cent quarter-on-quarter (QoQ) in revenues on sharp rebound in urea sales and 55%QoQ rise in ‘Other Income’ owing to dividend income from subsidiary FFBL.
KSE 100-share index ends three-week high: KARACHI: The Karachi Stock Exchange's (KSE) benchmark 100-share index ended 1.52 percent, or 253.28 points, higher at 16,894.09.
The stock market closed at a three-week high on Tuesday, driven by optimism over upcoming company results, traders said.
"Aggressive institutional buying helped equities to gain 1.5 percent with improving volumes," said a stock.
"(The) Reduction in political temperature coupled with likely announcements of December results compelled investors to buy quality stocks."
Fauji Fertilizer was up 1.72 percent to 120.65 rupees per share, while Fauji Cement rose 1.37 percent to 7.40 rupees. Another strong performer, National Bank, climbed 5 percent to 51.26 rupees per share.
In the currency market, the rupee ended weaker at 97.70/97.74 against the dollar, compared to Monday's close of 97.65/97.70.
Overnight rates in the money market ended at 8.50 percent compared to Monday's close of 8.75 percent. (REUTERS)

MOHAMMED SALEEM MANSOORI