LAHORE: The Pakistan Stock Exchange Tuesday rose sharply in the backdrop of surprise rupee depreciation against US dollar. The benchmark 100-share index gained 770.14 points to close at 44,309.74 points.
To recall, the government had devalued Pak Rupee by around 5 percent on Dec 8, 2017. During the last 10 years, Pak Rupee has devalued annually by 5 percent. Though this devaluation came with a surprise, it should provide some respite to ailing balance of payments situation.
Consequently, investors jumped into dollar hedged sectors in expectations of better returns in coming sessions; E&Ps, textiles and IPPs contributed 217 points to index. Similarly, banks emerged as top performer in market and added 413 points to index in anticipation of rise in policy rate.
Due to the rumours of hike in cement prices, most of the scrips in cement sector closed in green and contributed 57 points to index. Market participation recovered 90 percent in terms of volumes, while, traded value was up by 110 percent.
Top five stocks including UBL (+4.7 percent), HBL (+3 percent), MCB (+4.5 percent), PPL (+3.6 percent) & BAHL (+5 percent) added 390 points to the index gain, whereas stocks including PMPK (-5 percent), PSMC (-3.7 percent), BATA (-5 percent), HCAR (-1.6 percent) & EFERT (-0.5 percent) withheld 32 points from the index.
Dawood Lawrancepur Limited (DLL) announced financial results for 2017, where company reported profit after tax of Rs292m against Rs3.1b last year, down by 91 percent YoY due to decline in other income by 86 percent YoY. Engro Corporation (ENGRO) notified exchange regarding its declaration of close period from Mar 21, 2018 to Mar 28, 2018 to consider certain corporate actions in a board meeting to be held on Mar 28, 2018.
The Asia-Pacific stock markets pared early losses as investors took a more measured view of the overnight slump in tech shares sparked by concerns about whether Facebook Inc. did enough to stop improper access and handling of user data.
