Another stellar week

Pakistan Stock Exchange (PSX) witnessed bullish trend during the outgoing week on the back of massive liquidity influx as the benchmark KSE-100 index registered healthy increase of 2116.33 points or 4.89 percent to close at all time high level of 45,387.23 points.
Total market capitalisation increased by Rs 338 billion to Rs 9.126 trillion. Average daily trading value surged by 22.9 percent to Rs 18.53 billion against previous week''s average of Rs 15.07 billion. Trading activities however remained low as the average daily trading volumes on ready counter during the week decreased by 15.3 percent to 392.87 million shares as compared to previous week''s average of 463.80 million shares. Healthy buying was seen mainly by local investors and institutions. However, foreign investors remained net sellers of shares. During the week, the foreign investors withdrew $24.9 million from Pakistan stock market. Oil & Gas Exploration, Cement and Textile sectors saw major net selling of $9.7 million, $4.6 million and $2.7 million, respectively while buying of $3.5 million was seen in Oil & Gas Marketing sector. An analyst at JS Global Capital said that the index posted strong gains of 4.89 percent on week-on-week basis. Strong performance was mainly led by heavy buying from the local AMCs as they looked to allocate influx of huge liquidity to their respective portfolios. A massive $40 million of net buying by local AMCs was recorded during the week as compared to $19 million witnessed in the previous week. Local individuals also jumped the bandwagon and followed with net buying of $2 million during the week. Overall, across the board buying in blue chip heavy-weight stocks was observed with sectors such as Cements (+11.4 percent), E&Ps (+6.7 percent) and Autos (+3.5 percent) leading the charts. On the other hand, performance of small-cap sectors which had remained in the limelight during the last month underperformed the overall benchmark.
An analyst at AKD Securities said that continuing its strong run, the KSE-100 index marked another stellar week with 4.89 percent return on the back of sturdy oil prices, continued expansions in industrial sectors and announcements of corporate actions. Market leaders during the week were LUCK (+16.66 percent), ICI (+13.80 percent), PIOC (+13.10 percent), FCCL (+12.81 percent) and AICL (12.52 percent); while laggards were ASTL (-7.02 percent), EPCL (-4.9 percent), HASCOL (-2.26 percent), PSMC (-1.51 percent) and LOTCHEM (-1.2 percent).
An analyst at Topline Securities said that the benchmark KSE-100 index posted an upbeat trend in the outgoing week, as the local bourse touched new highs. Positivity was seen on the back of factors such as record high utilisation levels posted by cement manufacturers and strong liquidity position of local investors. Top three gainers over the outgoing week were Cement, Oil and Gas Exploration Companies and Commercial Banks sectors, which were up 11.4 percent, 6.7 percent and 4.1 percent, respectively. While top losers were Textile Weaving, Refinery, and Tobacco, which declined by 10.3 percent, 1.6 percent and 1.4 percent, respectively.
An analyst at Arif Habib Limited said that the local bourse maintained its rally, touching new highs. The best performing sectors played out during the week were Cement (561 points) Banking sector (497 points) and Oil sector (327 points). Cement sector was driven by LUCK and DGKC amid achievement of highest ever cement sales by the sector coupled with subdued coal prices. Additionally, LUCK announced intention to enter the Automobile industry under a partnership with KIA Motors along with due diligence of a potential acquisition of Dewan Cement Limited (1.13 million tons capacity - North Plant) in KPK and increase cement grinding capacity to 1.742 million tons from current 0.871 million tons in Iraq. Consequently, the scrip provided a return of 17 percent through the week. Amongst the banks HBL and UBL rallied on the back of attractive valuations whilst MCB price surged after the announcement of NIB amalgamation. Positive sentiments continued in the Oil sector reflecting OPEC''s announcement of a production cut due in January 2017.