KARACHI: The stock market likely to stay positive during the next week since valuation have opened up to attract levels.
Analysts at Arif Habib Limited said that the market to remain positive in the upcoming weeks since valuations have opened up to attractive levels.
READ MORE: Pakistan stocks shed 127 points amid sluggish trading
Moreover, with the ongoing result season, certain sectors and scrips are expected to stay under the limelight.
The benchmark KSE-100 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.
READ MORE: Pakistan stocks gain 304 points on improved IT exports
The market commenced on a negative note this week as political and economic uncertainty kept investors on the edge.
Moreover, the Pak Rupee continued its free fall against the USD (reaching an all-time low of PKR 239.94) amid skepticism over the release of the IMF tranche.
Volatility became more evident as the current account deficit climbed up by 39 per cent YoY during June 2022, to clock-in at USD 2.3 billion.
The sentiment turned positive however, after the finance minister reiterated that all prior actions have been undertaken for the revival of IMF program.
Furthermore, the State Bank of Pakistan (SBP) echoed the Finance Minister’s statement and rejected claims of default on global payment in near future.
READ MORE: Pakistan stocks gain 79 points in volatile trading
In addition to this, Fitch and Moody showed optimism over the disbursement of USD 1.2 billion from IMF soon.
Albeit, the S&P Global downgraded Pakistan’s credit outlook from neutral to negative, hence keeping the bourse in check.
The market closed at 40,150 points, gaining 73 points (up by 0.18 per cent) WoW.
Sector-wise positive contributions came from i) Technology (176 points), ii) Banks (138 points), iii) E&P (58 points), iv) Chemical (37 points) and v) OMCs (16 points).
Whereas, sectors which contributed negatively were i) Fertilizer (231 points), ii) Automobile Assembler (73 points) and Cement (35 points). Scrip-wise positive contributors were TRG (132 points), LOTCHEM (51 points), POL (47 points), BAFL (46 points) and HBL (30 points).
READ MORE: Pakistan stocks end up in mixed trading session
Meanwhile, scrip-wise negative contribution came from EFERT (88 points), ENGRO (84 points), INDU (45 points) and FFC (44 points).
Foreign buying continued this week, clocking in at USD 0.57 million compared to a net buy of USD 1.64 million last week. Major buying was witnessed in Technology (USD 3.00 million) and Textile (USD 0.64 million).
On the local front, selling was reported by Individuals (USD 2.04 million) followed by Insurance Companies (USD 1.78 million). Average volumes clocked in at 150 million shares (down by 8 per cent WoW) while average value traded settled at USD 22 million (up by 3 per cent WoW).
