Historic 50k milestone

Pakistan Stock Exchange (PSX) witnessed bullish trend during the outgoing week ended on January 27, 2017 and the benchmark KSE-100 index increased by 598.94 points to close at 49,963.77 points.
The week marked a landmark event as the KSE-100 index broke the 50,000 mark for the first time in its history, however could not sustain this historic level due to selling in various sectors on last trading day of the week.
Trading activities on the ready counter improved as the average daily trading volumes increased by 34.7 percent to 523.40 million shares as compared to previous week''s average of 388.51 million shares. Average daily trading value increased by 16.1 percent to Rs 25.73 billion. Total market capitalisation increased by Rs 42 billion to Rs 9.946 trillion.
Despite growing local optimism, foreign investors continue to sell with another $13.7 million worth of equities sold (net) during the outgoing week.
An analyst at JS Global Capital said that the benchmark KSE-100 index closed the outgoing week 1.2 percent on week-on-week basis higher at 49,964 points, even though profit taking was witnessed during the last trading session of the week as investors continue to monitor the ongoing Panama Papers case. The investors also turned cautious ahead of the Monetary Policy announcement due over the weekend. The gains at the bourse were largely led by the enthusiasm/optimism of the local investors on the back of strong domestic liquidity. Of the key sectors, OMCs, Cements, Fertilizers and Autos remained in the limelight whereas E&Ps and Pharmaceuticals underperformed the benchmark KSE-100 index during the week. An analyst at AKD Securities said carrying on with last week''s bullish sentiment the benchmark index crossed the 50k level; however leading to profit taking to keep the market volatile. KSE-100 closed the week at 49,964 points, up 1.21 percent on week-on-week.
Top gainers on the bourse were EPCL (+13.15 percent), KEL (+11.61 percent), HUBC (+7.68 percent) and BAFL (+7.50 percent) while laggards were ASTL (6.44 percent), SSGC (5.20 percent), NCL (4.27 percent) and MTL (3.82 percent).
Arif Habib Limited weekly research report said that the continued resistance to the significant 50,000 milestone finally gave in with the benchmark index (KSE-100) achieving the coveted fresh record. While Panama case hearings are still underway, foreign sell-off witnessed considerable slowdown to $13.67 million from $46.54 million, recorded last week. The index briefly touched 50,049 points in the early trading hours of Tuesday but it was not until Thursday, the 26th of January, that the bourse managed to breach the 50,000 milestone and closed at 50,192 points, supported by a net foreign inflow of $4.05 million. The week ended at 49,964 points up by 1.2 percent, with the bourse slightly retreating from the record close on Friday, which isn''t uncommon a day after an index breaches important levels. Enhanced liquidity provided by the local investors remains key to the continued rally. While individuals, mutual funds, companies, and NBFCs all supported the rally last week (against sell-off from foreign corporates: $44.92 million and local banks: $26.89 million), Mutual Funds absorbed much of the selling pressure ($27.56 million) this week. Foreigners continued to offload Power General & Distributors ($14.51 million), and Banks ($8.69 million); whereas showed interest in purchasing E&Ps ($8.91 million), OMCs ($2.97 million) and Fertilizers ($2.28 million).
Overall, sectors that outperformed this week were Power (192 points), Banks (170 points), Fertilizer (84 points) and Engineering (67 points), with Technology adding another 61 points (led by TRG on the news of its subsidy''s, Affinity, possible offshore IPO valued at $2.0 billion). On the other hand, Tobacco (-55 points), E&P (-55 points) and Transport (-34 points) remained major draggers.