KARACHI: Stocks rallied on the first trading session of the week, as the indices continued to accumulate gains amid increased market participation. Foreign investors closed the previous week (September 30–October 4) as net sellers with an outflow of $4.70 million.
The jump came despite the upcoming Financial Action Task Force (FATF) plenary meeting, which would give its decision on Pakistan’s status in the grey list.
Over the weekend, the Asia-Pacific Group (APG) on money laundering released its Mutual Evaluation report, saying Pakistan faced high risks of money laundering and terror financing and it needed to improve understanding of the risks, which were also linked with various terrorist groups operating in the country.
The report showed that out of FATF’s 40 recommendations on curbing money laundering and combating the financing of terrorism, Pakistan was fully or partially compliant with 36.
Meanwhile, investors remained hopeful that Prime Minister Imran Khan’s visit to China would bring positive developments for Pakistan.
Gaining 817.64 points, the KSE-100 marked its intraday high of 33,850.96. The index settled higher by 603.50 points at 33,636.82. The KMI-30 index surged by 1,054.32 points to settle at 53,859.95, while the KSE All Share Index ended at 24,248.22 after accumulating 275.75 points.
The overall volumes were recorded at 392.16 million (highest in one year). The Bank of Punjab (BOP +7.68pc), Unity Foods Limited (UNITY +2.72pc) and K-Electric Limited (KEL +1.48pc) remained the volume leaders. The scripts had traded 39.95 million shares, 24.71 million shares and 16.88 million shares respectively.
Sectors that helped paint the index green included banking (+198.36 points), oil and gas exploration (+102.88 points) and cement (+67.06 points).
As per reports, the government might focus on reviving the construction industry despite some pressure from the International Monetary Fund to bring down the development expenditure owing to shortfall in revenue targets.
The cement sector gained 2.85pc in its cumulative market capitalization. D G Khan Cement Company Limited (DGKC +4.39pc), Lucky Cement Limited (LUCK +3.56pc), Cherat Cement Company Limited (CHCC +5.00pc) closed the session with decent gains.
Nishat (Chunian) Limited (NCL +1.21pc) released its financial performance for FY19. The company’s sales went up by 11pc but gross profit margins remained flat. A 117pc surge in other income pushed operating profit higher by 41pc.
