Positive trend witnessed

Pakistan Stock Exchange witnessed positive trend during the first week of new calendar year due to selective buying in various sectors. BRIndex100 gained 58.13 points on week-on-week basis to close at 3,909.61 points. Average daily volumes stood at 107.091 million shares. BRIndex30 increased by 210.58 points to close at 20679.26 points with average daily turnover of 67.700 million shares.
KSE-100 index surged by 380.47 points on week-on-week basis and closed at 37,547.49 points. Trading activities also improved as average daily volumes on ready counter increased by 6.7 percent to 117.75 million shares as compared to previous week''s average of 110.35 million shares. Average daily trading value increased by 14.0 percent to Rs 5.69 billion.
The foreign investors remained net sellers of shares worth $0.51 million during the week as compared to an outflow of $1.1 million in the previous week. Total market capitalization however declined by Rs 3 billion to Rs 7.678 trillion.
An analyst at AKD Securities said that remaining devoid of any major trigger, the market had a turbulent first week of the new year, with the wild intra-day moves. Gaining 929 points on the second trading session, the benchmark KSE-100 index erased some of the earlier gains in the following two trading sessions before closing the week on a positive note. Overall, the KSE-100 index gained 1.02 percent on week-on-week basis.
Key performers over the week were BAFL (up 8.34 percent), CHCC (up 5.25 percent), ENGRO (up 5.22 percent), PIOC (up 4.29 percent) and HBL (up 4.29 percent) while laggards included FATIMA (down 6.48 percent), HASCOL (down 4.86 percent), EFOODS (down 4.75 percent), FFBL (down 4.66 percent) and NCL (down 3.70 percent).
An analyst at JS Global Capital said that the local bourse started off on a positive note, as the KSE-100 index closed at 37,547 levels. Key net sellers were Insurance Companies with $15 million, while this was broadly absorbed by the Mutual Funds with $13 million of net buying. During the week, declining international oil prices finally benefitted Pakistan where in spite of announcing a cut in POL prices for the month, the government managed to increase taxes and levy on the same to increase overall revenue collection.
Sector-wise performance displayed Exploration & Production sector (up 2.3 percent) and Banking sector (up 1.8 percent) among the outperformers during the week, while Refineries (down 2.2 percent) remained among the laggards. On the other hand, fresh drug price notification released by Drug Regulatory Authority of Pakistan (DRAP) during the end of the week failed to excite investors as the Pharmaceuticals sector closed down 0.1 percent. During the week, two leading automobile companies, Indus Motors (up 0.03 percent) and Pak Suzuki (up 3.6 percent) announced vehicle price increases.