KARACHI: The Pakistan Stock Exchange (PSX) started new week on bullish note and added 120 points to reach 40130 points level in early trading on Monday.
Last week, the PSX benchmark KSE 100-index registered only a marginal decline of 0.6 percent WoW to close at 40,010 points. The week also brought in new hope for K-Electric (KEL, +5.16 percent WoW), where expectations are starting to build again over completion of strategic sale of the power utility to Shanghai Electric as NEPRA may look to reconsider its multi-year tariff.
The week finished off with Engro Corporation (ENGRO, +3.29 percent WoW adjusted for Rs7.0/share dividend) closing strongly on MSCI rebalancing day, even though the stock was downgraded from MSCI Global Standard Index to MSCI Global Small Cap Index; indicating strong local appetite. However, gas utilities (-7 percent WoW) came under pressure as OGRA is beginning consultation on revising their rate of return model. During the week, foreigners were net sellers of $39.4m, whereas local individuals were net buyers of $8.6m.
Stocks including PPL (-3 percent WoW), SNGP (-8 percent), LUCK (-3 percent), DAWH (-5 percent) and HUBC (-3 percent) held 235pts from the index, while UBL (+5 percent), ENGRO (+3 percent), PAKT (+13 percent), TRG (+9 percent) and MCB (2 percent) added 248 points. On the sector capitalization front; OMCs & refinery shed 4 percent apiece, E&Ps & cements were down 2 percent each, auto assemblers, insurance, fertilizer and textile lost around 1 percent, power was flat, banks gained 1 percent, and food was up 3 percent.
Foreigners sold $39.5m during the week (vs selling of $6.3m last week). On the local front, individuals & insurance sector were net buyers of $8.6m and $8.5m, respectively. Selling was concentrated in fertilizer ($29.5m) & banks ($5.5m) whereas buying was seen in OMC sector to the tune of $2.4m. During the month of Nov’17, KSE-100 was up 1 percent as compared to 6.5 percent fall in Oct’17, while during 2017TD the market is down by 16 percent.
