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END March review
News-Prime Bank Stock Price Indexes
Handsome gains
March 2003, was the month of recovery at the Karachi Stock Exchange after some intense onslaught staged by the bears during January and February this year.During March, the News-Prime Bank Composite Index of VIS recorded handsome gains and at the end of the month it reached 4420.9 points with an over-the-month rise of 149.4 points or 3.5 per cent of 4271.5 points recorded at the end of February 2003.
During the month under review, the index peaked as high as 4427.2 points which was on the 28th whereas the lowest recording of 4252.8 points was made on the 19th of the month. On nine out of 19 days of trading at the KSE during March, the index closed in the positive column whereas it lost value at the end of the remaining ten days.
Both the two major components of the Composite Index, Financials and Industrials indices moved in lockstep with the Composite gaining substantially on their values over the month. Financials index closed at 2755.4 points with an increase of 134.5 points or 5.1 per cent over its end-February's close of 2620.8 points. Industrial Index, the other major component of the Composite, reached 5159.8 points rising with 122.6 points or 2.4 per cent over its preceding month's close of 5037.2 points.
The overall bullish trend can also be gauged with the fact that there were 29 out of 36 sector indices of the News-Prime Bank Index Family that posted gain during March 2003 whereas only seven lost value during the said period.
Among the sector indices on the financials side, the index of 'Insurance Companies' sector topped the list of gainers during the month with an increase of over 19 per cent. On the other hand, index of the 'Banks and Investment Companies' sector was the sole loser in the financial group with a nominal decline of 2.7 per cent over the month. In the industrial group, the index of 'Fertilizer' sector remained the biggest winner with a rise of over 21 per cent whereas the index of 'Textile Weaving' sector dipped the most sweeping about 2 per cent during the month.
Other Market-Indicators:
The KSE-100, which is a market capitalization based index maintained by the Karachi Stock Exchange, abated its sliding trend and gained significantly during March. KSE-100 index once again crossed the psychological barrier of 2700 points and ended up at 2715.7 points on March 31, 2003. This was 316.6 points or 13.2 per cent higher than 2399.2 points which it recorded at the end of February.
Trading at the Lahore and Islamabad Stock Exchanges was no different than that witnessed at the KSE with bulls showing their dominance.
At the end of March 2003, LSE-101 of Lahore closed at 1669.1 points with a significant rise of 158.4 points or 10.5 per cent over its end-Feb closing. Similarly, ISE-Network Index of Islamabad, which is also a price-based composite index developed by VIS, progressed by a whooping 289.4 points or 5.1 per cent and ended up at 5924.5 points.
There was a rise in the average daily turnover at the KSE. On an average, 146 million shares changed hands on each of the 19 days of trading as against an average turnover of 138 million shares estimated for 15 days of trading in February 2003. Lesser than usual number of trading days is attributed to the holidays on account of Ashura.
News-Prime Bank Indexes
Major Indexes
Major Index Closing as on Change over
March 31, 2003 Feb. 28, 2003
Composite 4,420.9 149.4 (3.5%)
Financials 2,755.4 134.5 (5.1%)
Industrials 5,159.8 122.6 (2.4%)
Base: 10,000 January 29, 1994
Top Percentage Gaining
Sector Indexes
Sector Index Closing as on Change over
March 31, 2003 Feb. 28, 2003
Fertilizers 744.7 130.2 (21.2%)
Insurance 464.5 76.6 (19.7%)
Automotive Assembler 1,024.4 162.9 (18.9%)
Auto Parts & Batteries 393.3 42.0 (12.0%)
Jute 856.2 75.4 (9.7%)
Base: 1,000 January 29, 1994
Top Percentage Losing
Sectors Indexes
Sector Index Closing as on Change over
March 31, 2003 Feb. 28, 2003
Banks & Invest Cos. 200.9 -5.5 (-2.7%)
Textile Weaving 377.6 -7.8 (-2.0%)
Leather & Tanneries 481.9 -6.5 (-1.3%)
Polyester Yarn & Fabrics 409.9 -4.1 (-1.0%)
Woollen 764.5 -5.9 (-0.8%)
Base: 1,000 January 29, 1994