KARACHI: Pakistan stocks may stay uncertain during next week due to rising political noise after a long march initiated by Pakistan Tehreek I Insaaf (PTI).
Analysts at Arif Habib Limited said that the market is expected to remain range bound in the upcoming week as the participants will remain cautious due to the political noise in the country.
READ MORE: Pakistan stocks observe bloodbath session amid political uncertainty
Furthermore, the Prime minister’s visit to China to enhance bilateral corporation and development on CPEC cooperation might bring positive momentum in the market.
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 12.2x while offering a dividend yield of 9.8 per cent versus 3.0 per cent offered by the region.
READ MORE: Pakistan stocks end up 63 points in range bound trading
The market commenced on a positive note this week as Pakistan exited the FATF grey list after four years. The momentum shifted toward the red zone since former Prime Minister Imran Khan announced the long march plan.
Furthermore, the Pak Rupee (PKR) remained under pressure against the greenback, closing at PKR 222.47 (down by PKR 2.06 | 1 per cent WoW).
In addition to this, State Bank of Pakistan (SBP) reserves went down to $7.4 billion this week, down by $157 million compared to $7.6 billion on September 14, due to external debt repayment.
READ MORE: Pakistan stocks plummet on long march announcement
Further, Pakistan’s 5-Yr CDS crossed the 50 per cent mark during the week (the highest level since Nov’09). The market closed at 41,140 points, losing 1,073 points (down by 2.5 per cent) WoW.
Sector-wise positive contributions came from i) Fertilizer (31 points), ii) Automobile Parts (4.6 points), iii) Vanaspati (0.22 points). Whereas, sectors which contributed negatively were i) Cement (208 points), ii) Technology (162 points), iii) E&P (126 points), iv) Automobile Assemblers (106 points) and, v) Power (85 points).
Scrip-wise positive contributors were EFERT (39 points), FABL (28 points), SYS (53 points), POL (22 points) and MCB (21 points). Meanwhile, scrip-wise negative contribution came from TRG (159 points), PPL (99 points), LUCK (96 points), MTL (70 points) and PSO (67 points).
READ MORE: Pakistan equities end down 157 points amid profit taking
Foreigners buying was witnessed during this week, clocking in at $0.97 million compared to a net sell of $3.4 million last week. Major buying was witnessed in Technology ($1.0 million), E&P’s ($0.8 million) and OMC’s ($0.6 million). On the local front, selling was reported by Mutual Funds ($3.3 million) followed by Individuals ($2.4 million). Average volumes clocked in at 214 million shares (down by 6 per cent WoW) while average value traded settled at $28 million (down by 1 per cent WoW).
