KARACHI: The Pakistan Stock Exchange Monday closed positive as the momentum generated by the rupee’s devaluation in the previous week came to a halt.
After staying negative for a majority part of the session, however, late buying helped the KSE-100 Index end higher to finish positive for the fifth successive session.
Losses in foreign markets due to concerns over a looming global trade war increased investor apprehensions at the start of the session. But the oil sector provided some balance on the back of an increase in international crude prices.
At the end of trading, the benchmark KSE 100-share Index finished with an increase of 53.35 points or 0.12% to settle at 45,083.57.
The benchmark KSE-100 Index consolidated its position above 45,000 points, supported by gains in oil stocks (+0.7%) as investors tracked the upsurge in international crude prices.
Fertiliser stocks (+0.4%) and selected cement shares traded positive, notably Lucky Cement that gained 0.6% and DG Khan Cement that rose +0.7% on reported foreign buying.
Overall, trading volumes and value on the KSE All-share Index fell 14% and 19% respectively versus a three-day average as the ongoing futures rollover week likely kept participation at the minimum level. Overall, trading volumes decreased to 187 million shares compared with Thursday’s tally of 228 million.
Shares of 362 companies were traded. At the end of the day, 174 stocks closed higher, 167 declined while 21 remained unchanged. The value of shares traded during the day was Rs8 billion.
Unity Foods was the volume leader with 24.7 million shares, gaining Rs0.85 to close at Rs27.86. It was followed by Lotte Chemical with 10.4 million shares, gaining Rs0.26 to close at Rs10.71 and Fauji Foods with 10.07 million shares, gaining Rs1.51 to close at Rs35.73.
Foreign institutional investors were net buyers of Rs129 million worth of shares during the trading session, according to data compiled by the National Clearing Company of Pakistan.
Last week, the devaluation of Pakistani rupee caught investors’ off guard during the week, helping sustain feeble bull-run. The benchmark KSE 100-index closed up 3.8 percent on week-on-week basis (WoW) at 45,030 points before the long weekend as a result of 5 percent depreciation of rupee, which at the end of the week stood at its all-time low of Rs115/US dollar.
Market participants, although taken by surprise over the timing, welcomed the move and bought stocks in key benefiting sectors such as (1) commercial banks (+6.1 percent WoW on higher expectations of rate hike in the upcoming MPS announcement), (2) E&Ps (+4.0 percent WoW due to dollar denominated revenues) and (3) IPPs (+2.0 percent WoW on hedged exposure vis-a-vis the greenback) etc.
Broadbased euphoria in these heavyweights also culminated into across the board buying in sectors such as (1) autos (+0.5 percent WoW as manufacturers raised prices to pass on increased dollar import costs), 2) fertilizers (+4.0 percent WoW on relatively less exposure to Pak rupee/US dollar parity) and (3) OMCs (+2.7 percent WoW on news of another cash injection to clear circular debt pile of Rs514biillion) and (4) cements (+3.4 percent WoW on price recovery in the north zone).
Market jumped 4 percent in a short week and helped index to close above 45k mark, gaining 1,667 points. This is the highest index gain in terms of percentage return after a lag of 10 weeks. Participation in blue chip stocks (banking and E&Ps) led traded value to grow by 43 percent while volumes went up by 10 percent.
