KARACHI: Pakistan Stock Exchange witnessed bullish trend during the outgoing week ended Dec 18, on the back of healthy buying mainly by local investors and institutions.
BRIndex100 gained 151.56 points on week-on-week basis to close at 4,600.53 points. Average daily volumes stood at 485.461 million shares.
BRIndex30 increased by 576.99 points to close at 23,052.83 points with average daily turnover of 264.625 million shares.
KSE-100 index surged by 1270.16 points on week-on-week basis and closed above 43,000 level at 43,740.56 points. Trading activities also improved as average daily volumes on ready counter increased by 21.5 percent to 548.99 million shares as compared to previous week’s average of 451.67 million shares. Average daily trading value increased by 25.0 percent to Rs 24.66 billion.
The foreign investors remained net sellers of shares worth $9.4 million as compared to a net sell of $9.6 million last week. Selling was witnessed in Commercial Banks ($11.0 million) and Fertilizer ($1.4 million). On the domestic front, major buying was reported by Banks / DFIs ($7.1 million) and Individuals ($5.1 million). Total market capitalization increased by Rs 253 billion to Rs 8.028 trillion.
An analyst at JS Global Capital said that the KSE100-Index gained 3.0 percent on week-on-week basis, touching a 2.5 year high during the week, with a slight decline in the last trading session.
Positive sentiments were fueled by higher investor participation as average traded volumes increased by 22 percent. Pakistan returned the due second installment of $3.0 billion soft loan amounting to $1.0 billion to Saudi Arabia this week, where news reports have suggested a similar amount expected to be received from China to prevent reduction in SBP’s foreign exchange reserves. News reports have also suggested development on IMF program’s front, where the Prime Minister has reportedly agreed to increase power tariffs by 25 percent to meet one of the key conditions of IMF.
An analyst at Arif Habib Limited said that the local bourse continued its bullish momentum this week, settling at 43,741 points, up 2.3 percent on week-on-week basis.
This week the index also crossed a 2.5-year high and thus now stands at the highest level during the present government’s tenure. US FDA’s finding of Moderna’s vaccine as “highly effective” was a big step closer to the approval of another vaccine (after Pfizer/BioNTech’s vaccine) – a major boon for global investment sentiment.
This week Pakistan paid its second installment of the $3.0 billion loan from Saudi Arabia, through commercial borrowing from China. Moreover, POL products’ prices were raised this week (up to 7.9 percent) on the back of recovery in global oil prices (Arab Light is up 19 percent on month-on-month basis).
Sector-wise positive contributions came from Banks (up 342 points), Fertilizers (up 231 points) and Oil & Gas Exploration (up 202 points) while Power Generation & Distribution declined 37 points. Scrip-wise positive contributions were led by OGDC (up 112 points), FFC (up 95 points), MEBL (up 68 points), ENGRO (up 64 points) and PSO (up 63 points). HUBC and KOHC led the negative contributions, declining 43 points and 15 points respectively.
Copyright Business Recorder, 2020
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