KARACHI: The stock market likely to stay positive during next week owing to expected improved financial results, said analysts at Arif Habib Limited.

The market is expected to be positive in the upcoming week. With the commencement of result session next week, certain scrips are expected to remain in the limelight.

READ MORE: Weekly Review: stocks likely to stay positive

Moreover, scrips are trading at cheap valuations, which may revive the momentum.

The benchmark KSE-100 index of Pakistan Stock Exchange (PSX) is currently trading at a PER of 4.1x (2022) compared to Asia Pac regional average of 12.2x while offering a dividend yield of 9.6 per cent versus 2.9 per cent offered by the region.

Political uncertainty took a toll on the market this week. The Pak Rupee continued to depreciate during the week, reaching an all-time low of Rs228.37 amid depletion of foreign reserves and uncertainty over funding from friendly countries.

READ MORE: Weekly Review: market likely to stay range-bound

Moreover, IMF is assessing which friendly countries are willing to provide financial aid to Pakistan before disbursing the loan of $1.2 billion.

Given the situation, the pressure was felt by the market, taking the index below 40,000 points. In addition to this, Fitch downgraded Pakistan’s rating outlook to negative. However, a slight rebound was observed on the last trading day.

The market closed at 40,077points, losing 1,998 points (down by 4.75 per cent) WoW.

Sector-wise negative contributions came from i) Commercial Banks (499 points), ii) Fertilizer (294 points), iii) Cement (245 points), iv) Oil & Gas Exploration Companies (187 points) and v) Power Generation & Distribution (110 points).

READ MORE: Stocks gain 184 points in lackluster trading activity

Whereas, sectors which contributed positive were i) Sugar & Allied Industries (3 points) and ii) Close-End Mutual Fund (2 points). Scrip-wise negative contributors were HBL (152 points), LUCK (92 points), ENGRO (92 points), EPCL (91 points) and HUBC (90 points). Meanwhile, scrip-wise positive contribution came from SML (3 points), HGFA (2 points), HINOON (2 points), MUREB (1 points) and DCR (1 points).

Foreign buying was witnessed this week, clocking in at $3.43 million compared to a net buy of $1.40 million last week. Major buying was witnessed in Technology ($1.98 million) and All Other Sectors ($0.75 million).

On the local front, selling was reported by Mutual Funds ($7.76 million) followed by Insurance Companies ($2.22 million). Average volumes clocked in at 163 million shares (down by 8 per cent WoW) while average value traded settled at $21 million (down by 31 per cent WoW).

READ MORE: Pakistan stocks up amid rupee depreciation