Category: Stock & Commodity

KARACHI: The stock market gained 668 points on Monday as sentiments were remained positive on rate cut and disbursement of IMF loan program.

The benchmark KSE-100 index of Pakistan Stock Exchange (PSX) closed at 33,500 points as against 32,832 points showing an increase of +668 points.

Analysts at Topline Securities said that cut in policy rate by 200 basis points to 9 percent and approval by IMF Executive Board to disburse US$1.386 billion through Rapid Financing Instrument (RFI) to Pakistan continue to garner investor interest in the market.

Analysts at Arif Habib Limited said that the market continued the ascend today after posting the historical gains on Friday, when the market witnessed halt due to 5 percent cap on index.

Market went up by 1026 points during the session and saw profit booking earlier in the session that brought the gains below +300 points.

Cement sector again traded mostly on upper circuit and realized high trading volumes. Oil & Gas stocks, with the exception of PSO, saw a dip in prices, primarily on the back of international crude prices.

WTI May contract saw a downtrend in price and declined to US$13.27/bbl post closure of PSX market. Banking sector stocks also managed to post gains over last closing.

Cement sector contributed the most to the trading volumes by realizing 115.8 million shares, followed by Technology (33.4 million) and O&GMCs (32 million).

Among scrips, MLCF topped the volumes with 39.6 million shares, followed by FCCL (35.5 million) and HASCOL (23 million).

Sectors contributing to the performance include Fertilizer (+220 points), Cement (+183 points), Banks (+97 points), O&GMCs (+43 points) and Power (+40 points).

Volumes increased significantly from 302.4 million shares to 399.9 million shares (+32 percent DoD). Average traded value also increased by 100 percent to reach US$ 106.2 million as against US$ 52.6 million.

Stocks that contributed significantly to the volumes include MLCF, FCCL, HASCOL, UNITY and KEL, which formed 32 percent of total volumes.

Stocks that contributed positively to the index include ENGRO (+155 points), LUCK (+91 points), FFC (+70 points), HUBC (+46 points) and HBL (+33 points). Stocks that contributed negatively include PAKT (-16 points), EFERT (-12 points), PPL (-11 points), PMPK (-11 points), and KAPCO (-7 points).

KARACHI: The stock market likely to maintain positive trend during the next week after the surprise cut in policy rate and approval of $1.38 billion emergency loan by IMF.

Analysts at Arif Habib Limited said that the market to hover in the green zone next week as the cabinet has granted approval to an Ordinance providing incentives for the construction industry.

Whereas slow growth of Coronavirus cases in Pakistan may also fuel bullish sentiments.

On the other hand, we might see further appreciation in PKR against green as foreign selling in debt securities has largely been subdued, inclusion of Pakistan by G20 in its debt relief plan which might reduce debt repayment pressure, and disbursement of funds from the IMF which may aid foreign exchange reserves.

Trading commenced on a negative note this week as the OPEC+ announced a production cut that remained inefficient to offset the expected drop in demand amid COVID-19, which resulted in a decline in international oil prices.

On the other hand, the Sindh government announced a more severe lockdown on account of rising cases in the province which dampened investor’s sentiments.

However, sentiment reversed direction on the last trading day whereby steep gains were witnessed in the wake of i) 200bps cut in the benchmark rate to 9 percent by the State Bank in an emergency unscheduled meeting, ii) approval of a USD 1.4bn fund by the IMF for Pakistan, iii) sharp decline in 10-year PIB’s yield from 8.65 percent to 7.7 percent, and iv) 2 percent appreciation in the PKR against USD.

As a result, the benchmark KSE-100 index of Pakistan Stock Exchange (PSX) closed at 32,832 points, up by 799 points or 2.5 percent WoW.

Contribution to the upside was led by i) Fertilizer (405 points), ii) Cements (170 points), iii) Pharmaceuticals (127 points), iv) Textile Composite (59 points), and v) Automobile Assemblers (51 points). Scrip wise major gainers were DAWH (143 points), FFC (125 points), ENGRO (108 points), LUCK (80 points), and SEARL (43 points). Whereas, scrip wise major losers were NESTLE (97 points), UBL (56 points) HBL (55 points), BAFL (54 points) and BAHL (32 points).

Foreigners offloaded stocks worth of USD 14.24 million compared to a net sell of USD 16.22 million last week. Major selling was witnessed in Commercial Banks (USD 3.79 million) and Fertilizer (USD 3.03 million).

On the local front, buying was reported by Insurance Companies (USD 6.80 million) followed by Companies (USD 4.53 million).

That said, average daily volumes for the outgoing week were down by 4 percent to 178 million shares likewise value traded decreased by 10 percent to USD 37.8 million.

KARACHI: The share market gained 87 points on Thursday after trading in range bound during the day.

The benchmark KSE-100 index of Pakistan Stock Exchange (PSX) closed at 31,330 points as against 31,242 points showing an increase of 87 points.

Analysts at Arif Habib Limited said that the market traded in a narrow range today between +205 points and -226 points, and closing the session +87 points.

Yesterday’s PIB auction that resulted in normalization of yield curve and declining of yields gave good reasons for investors to come back to equities.

However, weakening oil fundamentals kept the investors in limbo on whether to book profit or take new positions.

Similar to yesterday’s performance, Fertilizer sector maintained the momentum with further support from Cement and E&P sectors.

Banking sector, on the other hand, faced selling pressure, bearing the brunt from foreign investors in past couple of sessions.

Cement sector managed to post some recovery today and maintained top position in trading volumes with 34.6 million shares, followed by Chemical (12.9 million) and Vanaspati (10.9 million).

Among scrips, MLCF topped the volumes with 14.8 million shares, followed by UNITY (10.9 million) and HASCOL (7.2 million).

Sectors contributing to the performance include E&P (+39 points), Tobacco (+31 points), Pharma (+25 points), Inv Banks (+23 points), Power (+16 points), Banks (-57 points) and Insurance (-12 points).

Volumes declined from 185.6 million shares to 119.1 million shares (-36 percent DoD). Average traded value also declined by 36 percent to reach US$ 28.5 million as against US$ 44.8 million.

Stocks that contributed significantly to the volumes include MLCF, UNITY, HASCOL, EPCL and PIOC, which formed 36 percent of total volumes.

Stocks that contributed positively to the index include PAKT (+24 points), DAWH (24 points), OGDC (+18 points), FFC (+17 points) and COLG (+15 points). Stocks that contributed negatively include MCB (-23 points), HBL (-20 points), LUCK (-11 points), UBL (-11 points), and EFERT (-11 points).

KARACHI: The equity market fell by 19 points on Wednesday in mixed trading sessions during the day.

The benchmark KSE-100 index of Pakistan Stock Exchange (PSX) closed at 31,242 points as against 31,223 points showing an increase of 19 points.

Analysts at Arif Habib Limited said that the market opened on a positive note today with 165 points, which was primarily the reaction to partial opening of various industries and sectors decided by the federal and provincial governments.

The index surged by 572 points, barring E&P and O&GMCs, during the session despite downward trend in international crude prices.

As WTI dropped by more than 4.5 percent to touch 18-year low (2002) of US$ 19.20/bbl, E&P and O&GMCs lost support from levels maintained in trades earlier in the session.

Cement Sector, which was the highlight of today and performed well during the session also saw profit booking by the end of session. Strong price performance was contributed by Fertilizer Sector.

Early on, the support for benchmark KSE-100 index came from index heavy weights, ENGRO, HUBC, LUCK, DAWH and FFC.

Secondary market PIB yields also dropped further to indicate optimism for a rate cut in the upcoming monetary policy. 10yr PIB was observed trading at 8.65 percent.

Cement sector continued leading the volumes with 61.9 million shares, followed by O&GMCs (15.6 million) and Chemical (14.2 million). Among scrips, MLCF realized 22.5 million shares, followed by HASCOL (10.9 million) and FCCL (9.5 million).

Sectors contributing to the performance include E&P (-107 points), Banks (-36 points), Food (-21 points), Inv Banks (+60 points), Cement (+41 points), Fertilizer (+26 points) and Pharma (+23 points).

Volumes increased from 130.4 million shares to 1856 million shares (+42 percent DoD) Average traded value also increased by 55 percent to reach US$ 44.8 million as against US$ 28.8 million.

Stocks that contributed significantly to the volumes include MLCF, HASCOL, FCCL, PIOC and DGKC, which formed 32 percent of total volumes.

Stocks that contributed positively to the index include DAWH (+59 points), LUCK (18 points), FFC (+14 points), ABOT (+12 points) and EPCL (+11 points). Stocks that contributed negatively include OGDC (-37 points), PPL (-35 points), POL (-29 points), NESTLE (-25 points), and BAFL (-16 points).

KARACHI: The equity market gained 190 points on Tuesday owing to improved sentiments of investors.

The benchmark KSE-100 index of Pakistan Stock Exchange (PSX) closed at 31,223 points as against 31,033 points showing an increase of 190 points.

Analysts at Arif Habib Limited the market traded in the positive zone for most part of the session, despite international crude oil prices dipping below the pre-production cut levels.

The WTI saw declines of around 2.5 percent in international markets, which caused local investors to book profit on E&P and O&GMCs.

Similar activity was observed in Cement sector that saw MLCF and DGKC touching levels near lower circuits, but rebounded strongly by the closing of session.

Textile sector also benefited from positive investor sentiment. Major reason behind the positivity was Government’s consideration on following smart lockdown / partial opening up of businesses across the country that raised hopes among investors for return to normalcy.

Banking sector stocks largely stood ground with HBL, MCB and UBL trading range bound amidst low volumes. Cement sector posted trading volumes of 37.5 million shares, followed by O&GMCs (14.7 million) and Power (11.7 million).

Among scrips, MLCF topped the volumes with 11.4 million, followed by HASCOL (10.7 million) and PAEL (7.7 million).

Sectors contributing to the performance include Cement (+61 points), Banks (+47 points), Textile (+41 points), Pharma (+32 points), Auto (+22 points), Food (-36 points) and Power (-21 points).

Volumes dipped from 153.9 million shares to 130.4 million shares (-15 percent DoD) Average traded value also declined by 16 percent to reach US$ 28.8 million as against US$ 34.4 million.

Stocks that contributed significantly to the volumes include MLCF, HASCOL, PAEL, KEL and PIOC, which formed 34 percent of total volumes.

Stocks that contributed positively to the index include LUCK (+23 points), MTL (+19 points), NML (+16 points), NBP (+13 points) and SEARL (+12 points).

Stocks that contributed negatively include NESTLE (-35 points), HUBC (-22 points), HMB (-6 points), OGDC (-6 points), and SNGP (-6 points).