KARACHI: Pakistan stocks likely stay range bound during next week as investors remain cautious over political noise.
Analysts at Arif Habib Limited said that the market would remain range bound in the upcoming week as the participants would remain cautious due to the political noise in the country.
Furthermore, any positive outcome of IMF’s ninth review can aid the index.
The benchmark KSE-100 index of Pakistan Stock Exchange (PSX) is currently trading at a PER of 4.0x (2023) compared to Asia Pac regional average of 12.4x while offering a dividend yield of 10.2 per cent versus 2.9 per cent offered by the region.
READ MORE: Weekly Review: stocks to stay uncertain over PTI’s Long March
The market commenced on a positive note this week. The momentum continued throughout the week with the PMs visit to China.
Furthermore, the country’s trade deficit narrowed down by 26.59 per cent to $ 11.469 billion during the first four months of the current fiscal year compared to $ 15.624 billion during the same period of last year.
The Pak Rupee was slightly up against the greenback, closing at PKR 221.95 (up by 0.2 per cent WoW). In addition to this, SBP reserves went up to $ 8.9 billion this week, up by $ 1.5 billion compared to $ 7.44 billion on October 14, reflecting inflows from Asian Development Bank (ADB).
However, towards the end of the week, the market went down due to an attack on the ex-PM Imran Khan. The market closed at 41,856 points, gaining 716 points (up by 1.7 per cent) WoW.
READ MORE: Pakistan stocks fall amid attack on ex-PM
Sector-wise positive contributions came from i) Technology & Communication (168 points), ii) Oil & Gas Exploration Companies (144 points), iii) Fertilizers (107 points), iv) Power Generation & Distribution (85 points) and v) Cement (66 points).
Whereas, sectors which contributed negatively were i) Insurance (10 points), ii) Food & Personal Care Products (9 points), and iii) Paper & Board (8 points). Scrip-wise positive contributors were TRG (101 points), POL (89 points), HUBC (74 points), SYS (53 points) and ENGRO (43 points).
Meanwhile, scrip-wise negative contribution came from MEBL (31 points), NESTLE (15 points), HBL (12 points), PSEL (12 points) and AICL (10 points).
Foreigners selling was witnessed during this week, clocking in at $ 1.58 million compared to a net buy of $ 0.97 million last week.
Major selling was witnessed in Banks ($ 0.9 million), Fertilizer ($ 0.8 million) and other sectors ($ 0.3 million).
On the local front, buying was reported by Individuals Funds ($ 4.7 million) followed by Banks ($ 0.8 million). Average volumes clocked in at 229 million shares (up by 7 per cent WoW) while average value traded settled at $ 25 million (down by 11 per cent WoW).
READ MORE: KSE-100 index gains 146 points in mixed trading session
