Pakistani stocks end on fresh 4-yr high, rupee firms

KARACHI: (AGENCIES)

    Pakistani stocks ended on a fresh four year high on Tuesday as investors bought bank sector shares following strong corporate profits for the Jan-March quarter, dealers said.

The Karachi Stock Exchange (KSE) benchmark 100-share index closed 0.35 percent, or 49.75 points, higher at 14,132.59, the highest close since May 2008.

"Pakistan stocks closed bullish led by banking stocks on strong quarter-end earning announcements at KSE," said Ahsan Mehanti, director at Arif Habib Corp.

Volume rose to 297.16 million shares, compared with 213.34 million shares traded on Monday.

MCB Bank announced a net profit of 5.6 billion rupees ($61.63 million) in the quarter ended March 30, compared with a net profit of 5 billion rupees in the same period last year.

It also announced a cash dividend of 3 rupees per share and ended 1.11 percent higher at 176.21 rupees.

Pakistan Petroleum Ltd, Hub Power Co Ltd and Pakistan Telecommunication Co Ltd are due to announce it results on Wednesday's.

The rupee ended slightly firmer at 90.87/90 to the dollar, compared with Monday's close of 90.90/96 amid a lack of import payments.

The rupee has been supported by remittances, which rose 21.45 percent to $9.73 billion in the first nine months of the 2011/12 fiscal year, compared with $8.02 billion in the same period last year.

In March, remittances totaled $1.14 billion.

In its monetary policy statement this month, the State Bank of Pakistan said the external sector was likely to remain under pressure because of both external debt payments and a lack of foreign aid.

Pakistan's current account deficit widened to a provisional $3.089 billion in the first nine months of the 2011/12 fiscal year, compared with $10 million over the same period in the previous year, the central bank said on Wednesday.

Overnight rates in the money market ended flat at 11.90 percent, unchanged from the previous day's close amid tight liquidity in the interbank market.