Category: Stock & Commodity

KARACHI: The stock market gained 468 points on Wednesday to begin the new fiscal year 2020/2021 on positive note.

The benchmark KSE-100 index of Pakistan Stock Exchange (PSX) closed at 34,889 points as against 34,421 points showing an increase of 468 points.

Analysts at Arif Habib Limited said that the first day of the financial year 2021 took the index close to 35K level, posting gains of 502 points during the session, mostly inline with regional markets.

Major contributors were Cement (on the back of recent increase in cement price / bag and reduction in FED charges), E&P (due to an increase in international crude prices), OMCs (primarily PSO, which gained from recent increase in retail price, eroding inventory losses at financial year end) and Fertilizer (for reasons of provision of cheap gas for feedstock for few fertilizer companies).

Technology sector realized 78.8 percent shares, followed by Cement (64.4 percent) and Power (44.6 percent). Among scrips, KEL topped 39.1 percent shares, followed by HUMNL (30.7 percent) and TRG (26.5 percent).

Sectors contributing to the performance include Cement (+178 points), E&P (+116 points), Power (+87 points), Fertilizer (+84 points) and O&GMCs (+25 points).

Volumes increased further from 223.3 percent shares to 315.0 percent shares (+41 percent DoD). Average traded value also increased from US$ 44.6 percent to US$ 63.5 percent (+42 percent DoD).

Stocks that contributed significantly to the volumes include KEL, HUMNL, TRG, MLCF and DGKC, which formed 43 percent of total volumes.

Stocks that contributed positively to the index include LUCK (+95 points), HUBC (+68 points), OGDC (+58 points), PPL (+41 points) and ENGRO (+38 points). Stocks that contributed negatively include UBL (-22 points), BAFL (-17 points), MCB (-16 points), BAHL (-14 points), and HBL (-11 points).

KARACHI: The benchmark KSE-100 index of Pakistan Stock Exchange (PSX) closed 2019/2020 with a positive return after two consecutive years in red, portraying a Pak Rupee based increase of 1.5 percent.

Analysts at Arif Habib Limited said that the performance of the fiscal year 2019/2020 is in stark contrast to the last 10-year performance of the benchmark index, which has depicted an average positive return of 15.4 percent.

Key highlights of the outgoing year include:

Macroeconomic concerns were largely controlled before COVID-19 outbreak, especially on the external side [CAD (still under control), currency stability, and building up of FX reserves].

However, post COVID-19 outbreak, the economy slowed down significantly amid introduction of a lockdown and overall decline in consumer spending.

The government announced a fiscal stimulus amounting PKR 1.3tn while the SBP announced various schemes/incentives to support households and industries’ stressed cash cycles alongside a reduction of 625 basis points since March 2020 post COVID-19 to stimulate spending and economic activity.

Profitability declined by -7.2n percent YoY in 9MFY20.

Foreign outflow (USD 279 million) continued for the fifth consecutive year. However, foreigners bought T-bills and PIBs worth USD 688 million.

KARACHI: The stock market gained 240 points to end the fiscal year on Tuesday over improved sentiments of investors over approval of finance bill and successful action by security forces against terrorists a day earlier.

The benchmark KSE-100 index of Pakistan Stock Exchange (PSX) closed at 34,422 points as against 34,182 points showing an increase of 240 points.

Analysts at Arif Habib Limited said that the financial year ended on a positive note with 240 points at 34,422 points.

Trading volumes also improved over the day, however, the focus was still at marked to market valuation of securities in the portfolios.

Among banking sector stocks, HBL and NBP did high volumes, amid small price gains. Comparatively, MCB posted better gains but the volumes remained in check. Cement sector stocks, which performed well during the past 2 sessions, remained muted.

E&P sector stocks also lacked any excitement, which coincided with international crude oil prices, showing nominal price changes.

Refinery sector led the volumes with 43.3 million shares, followed by O&GMCs (27.4 million) and Technology (27.1 million). Among scrips, PRLR did 39.1 million shares, followed by SSGC (14.6 million) and TRG (13.7 million).

Sectors contributing to the performance include Banks (+140 points), Fertilizer (+30 points), Food (+24 points), Technology (+21 points) and Power (+16 points).

Volumes increased from 156.9 million shares to 223.3 million shares (+42 percent DoD). Average traded value also increased by 33 percent to reach US$ 44.7 million as against US$ 33.5 million.

Stocks that contributed significantly to the volumes include PRLR1, SSGC, TRG, KEL and HUMNL, which formed 37 percent of total volumes.

Stocks that contributed positively to the index include MCB (+69 points), NESTLE (+21 points), UBL (+17 points), OGDC (+17 points) and HBL (+15 points). Stocks that contributed negatively include PPL (-12 points), HCAR (-7 points), JLICL (-6 points), KOHC (-4 points), and SHEL (-4 points).

KARACHI: The successful operation by law enforcement agencies (LEAs) against the terror attack on the Pakistan Stock Exchange (PSX) on Monday boosted investor confidence, resulting in the KSE-100 index closing with a gain of 242 points.

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KARACHI: The stock market likely to stay in green zone during next week as coronavirus cases are receding and investors are optimistic on inflows from international financial institutions.

Analysts at Arif Habib Limited said that the market to remain positive in the upcoming week.

Since COVID-19 cases have started to decline day-on-day basis, investment sentiment is expected to improve. With inflow of funds from ADB and World Bank, PKR/USD parity is expected to stabilize in the upcoming week.

With monetary policy announced we expect investors to cherry pick scrips from Cements, OMCs and Fertilizers sector.

The benchmark KSE-100 index of Pakistan Stock Exchange (PSX) is currently trading at a PER of 7.2x (2020) compared to Asia Pac regional average of 12.6x and while offering DY of ~6.5 percent versus ~2.8 percent offered by the region.

The market commenced on a positive note this week. However, sentiments turned negative amid plunge in international oil prices during the mid-week.

Furthermore pressure from downturn in international markets owing to concerns over a possible second wave of COVID-19 was also felt in local bourse.

With monetary aid received during the week from ADB and World Bank worth USD 1bn followed by current account turning surplus with USD 13 million in May 2020, sentiments shifted towards green side.

Along with this, SBP’s announcement of 100 bps cut provided further fuel to sentiment. Furthermore, extension in FATF’s deadline also provided breather to investors.

The market settled at 33,939 points, gaining 501 points (up by 1.5 percent) WoW.

Sector-wise positive contributions came from i) Fertilizer (326 points), ii) Cements (108 points), iii) Power Generation & Distribution (46 points), iv) Oil & Gas Marketing Companies (34 points) and Auto Assemblers (31 points).

However, sector-wise negative contribution came from i) Commercial Banks (90 points), ii) Tobacco (13 points) and iii) Pharmaceuticals (8 points). Scrip-wise positive contributions were led by FFC (101 points), ENGRO (95 points), DAWH (78 points), EFERT (47 points) and HUBC (44 points).

Foreign selling continued this week clocking-in at USD 9.9 million compared to a net sell of USD 4.8 million last week. Selling was witnessed in Fertilizer (USD 2.7 million) and Commercial Banks (USD 2.6 million).

On the domestic front, major buying was reported by Insurance Companies (USD 7.0 million) and Mutual Funds (USD 3.4 million). Average Volumes settled at 177 million shares (down by 23 percent WoW) while average value traded clocked-in at USD 35 million (down by 16 percent WoW).

KARACHI: The stock market gained 230 points on Friday after the central bank announced a surprise cut in interest rate a day earlier.

The benchmark KSE-100 index of Pakistan Stock Exchange (PSX) closed at 33,939 points as against 33,709 points showing an increase of 230 points.

Analysts at Arif Habib Limited said that the surprise rate cut by SBP post market yesterday, had the market open +319 points with 3.8 million shares traded on the opening bell.

Cyclicals (Cement & Steel), which have had high leverage ratios in the past couple years were largely the beneficiaries of this rate cut and therefore reflected the same positivity in the market as well.

MLCF and DGKC did the most volumes in the Cement sector stocks. E&P sector that could have benefited from the overnight bounce back in international crude prices failed to reciprocate and had a muted response during the session.

Banking sector stocks, on the other hand, declined further as a result of Policy rate cut but couldn’t place significant volumes on the bourse.

Today, also happened to be the last day of the roll-over week but didn’t cause much of an impact on stock prices.

Cement sector led the volumes with 43.9M shares, followed by Technology (23.8 million) and Refinery (14.4 million). MLCF topped the volumes with 15.2 million shares, followed by PRLR (13 million) and DGKC (12.6 million).

Sectors contributing to the performance include Fertilizer (+109 points), Cement (+93 points), Power (+43 points), O&GMCs (+15 points) and Pharma (+13 points).

Volumes increased from 168.4 million shares to 198.2 million shares (+17 percent DoD). Average traded value also increased by 28 percent to reach US$ 40.5 million as against US$ 31.5 million.

Stocks that contributed significantly to the volumes include MLCF, PRLR1, DGKC, UNITY and TRG, which formed 31 percent of total volumes.

Stocks that contributed positively to the index include FFC (+57 points), HUBC (+43 points), ENGRO (+40 points), LUCK (+31 points) and DGKC (+26 points). Stocks that contributed negatively include BAFL (-20 points), HBL (-18 points), DAWH (-16 points), UBL (-12 points), and MEBL (-11 points).

KARACHI: The equity market ended down by 325 points on Thursday following decline in global stock markets and ease in international oil prices.

The benchmark KSE-100 index of Pakistan Stock Exchange (PSX) closed at 33,710 points as against 34,034 points showing a decline of 325 points.

Analysts at Arif Habib Limited said that the market followed the downtrend witnesses in global stock markets, especially taking negative effect of international crude prices that shed US$3/bbl overnight.

E&P, O&GMCs and Refinery sectors sustained price loss. Cement sector stocks showed some price performance on the back of anticipated increase in cement dispatches in the ongoing month. Overall, selling activity was observed across the board.

Post session, SBP announced further rate cut of 100bps to 7 percent, which does give an explanation for a more than usual negativity in the banking scrips, particularly in HBL, MCB and BAFL.

As have been the practice during the past few sessions, institutional investors are seem more interested in moderate closure to FY20 and therefore execute trades of marked-to-market nature than even driven trades.

Technology stocks again led the volumes with 51.7 million shares, followed by Cement (15 million) and Refinery (11.4 million). Among scrips, WTL came forward with 19.5 million shares, followed by HUMNL (13.4 million) and TRG (12.5 million).

Sectors contributing to the performance include E&P (-86 points), Banks (-55 points), Power (-39 points), Food (-39 points) and Fertilizer (-30 points).

Volumes declined from 195.7 million shares to 168.4 million shares (-15 percent DoD). Average traded value also declined by 9 percent to reach US$ 31.5 million as against US$ 34.5 million.

Stocks that contributed significantly to the volumes include WTL, HUMNL, TRG, PRLR1 and KEL, which formed 37 percent of total volumes.

Stocks that contributed positively to the index include DAWH (+12 points), EFERT (+9 points), COLG (+5 points), ABOT (+3 points) and SRVI (+3 points). Stocks that contributed negatively include HUBC (-37 points), NESTLE (-35 points), OGDC (-34 points), MCB (-30 points), and PPL (-27 points).

KARACHI: The stock market ended down on Wednesday amid dull trading activities during the day.

The benchmark KSE-100 index of Pakistan Stock Exchange (PSX) closed at 34,034 points as against 34,052 points showing a decline of 18 points.

Market traded in a narrow range between +108 points and -115 points, closing the session -18 points. Activity remained dull throughout the session, primarily due to absence of a strong trigger ahead.

During the session, news of trade surplus added a bit of excitement but selling pressure kept the prices in check. International crude oil prices also saw attrition during trading hours, which brought E&P stocks below yesterday’s closing prices.

Fertilizer stocks performed well, among which DAWH hit upper circuit, whereas buying interest was also observed in ENGRO.

Technology sector topped the volumes with 34.9 million shares, followed by Food (16.7 million) and Refinery (14.4 million). Among scrips, TRG realized 16.4 million shares, followed by UNITY (12.6 million) and PRLR (11.8 million).

Sectors contributing to the performance include E&P (-44 points), Banks (-33 points), Power (-20 points), Cement (-13 points) and Pharma (-12 points).

Volumes increased from 160.6 million shares to 195.7 million shares (+19 percent DoD). Average traded value increased by merely 1 percent to reach US$ 34.6 million as against US$ 33.5 million.

Stocks that contributed significantly to the volumes include TRG, UNITY, PRLR1, TPL and ASC, which formed 30 percent of total volumes.

Stocks that contributed positively to the index include DAWH (+62 points), NESTLE (+40 points), ENGRO (+27 points), APL (+10 points) and EFERT (+10 points). Stocks that contributed negatively include PPL (-20 points), HUBC (-18 points), HBL (-16 points), OGDC (-13 points), and PAKT (-9 points).