KARACHI: The equity market likely to display a mixed trend next week showing a range-bound behavior, analysts said.
Analysts at Arif Habib Limited said that concerns of an expected hike in the upcoming monetary policy statement may keep investors on the back seat.
However, valuations across the index have opened up to an enticing level which can provide numerous entry options.
Investor climate in the outgoing week regained some confidence while volumes continued to remain dull.
Improvement on the external front (CAD portrayed a significant decline of 72 percent YoY/59 percent MoM during February 2019, while contracting 23 percent YoY during 8MFY19), visit of Malaysian PM Mahatir Mohamad and improving ties with the US all contributed towards stimulating positivity in the investors’ sentiments.
The benchmark KSE-100 index closed at 38,532 points, registering an increase of 225 points during the week (+0.6 percent WoW).
Sector-wise positive contributions came from i) Commercial Banks (+278 points), ii) Oil and Gas Exploration Companies (+194 points), and iii) Fertilizer (+75 points).
Whereas, sectors that contributed negatively include i) Power Generation & Distribution (-126 points), ii) Oil & Gas Marketing Companies (-39 points) and Pharmaceuticals (-30 points). Scrip-wise major positive contributions came from PPL (+115 points), MCB (+91 points), HBL (+77 points), POL (+57 points), and OGDC (+51 points).
Major laggards included HUBC (-122 points), SEARL (-30 points) and MARI (-29 points).
Foreign buying witnessed in the week settled at USD 3.1 million compared to a net sell of USD 15.6 million last week.
Buying was witnessed in Commercial Banks (USD 2.9 million) and Exploration & Production (USD 1.7 million).
On the domestic front, major selling was reported by Insurance Companies (USD 4.8 million) and Other Organizations (USD 2.7 million).
Average volumes during the week settled at 84 million shares (down by 10 percent WoW) whereas average value traded arrived at USD 28 million (up by 6.6 percent WoW).
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