Market watch: KSE-100 ends shy of 52,400, gains over 600 points

Investors hurry to accumulate stocks that are part of the MSCI Pakistan Index

KARACHI: Euphoria over the stock exchange's reclassification as an emerging market propelled the KSE-100 Index past another milestone on Monday with investors hurrying to accumulate stocks that are part of the MSCI Pakistan Index.

At close, the Pakistan Stock Exchange's (PSX) benchmark KSE 100-share Index recorded an increase of 636.96 points, or 1.23%, to end at 52,387.87.

JS Research analyst Arhum Ghous said the market continued its bullish momentum on the back of the upcoming MSCI announcement.



"The day's major index movers were Oil and Gas Development Company (+4.83%), MCB Bank (+3.19%), Pakistan Petroleum (+3.39%), Pakistan Oilfields (+5%) and Engro (+2.08%) as they cumulatively contributed +318 points to the index," he said.

"Meanwhile, the exploration and production sector led the gains as they cumulatively contributed 221 points to the index. Crude oil prices reached the highest level in around two weeks after Saudi Arabia and Russia agreed to extend oil output cuts for nine months ahead.

"Investor interest was seen in the fertiliser sector on the news that the federal government is likely to increase the urea export quota by 100% to 6 million tons. Fauji Fertilizer Company (+3.29%) and Fatima Fertilizer (+1.97%) were the major gainers of the aforementioned sector," he added.



Meanwhile, according to Elixir Securities, equities closed at a new all-time high with oils leading day's gains.

"The market opened a gap up as index heavy oils attracted attention from the word go after investors across the globe cheered extension in supply cut agreement between Saudis and Russia," said analyst Ali Raza.

"Oil and Gas Development Company (+4.8%) hit the upper price limit and emerged as the top contributor in day's gains while Pakistan Oilfields (+5%) too, finished at the upper price limit after churning most volumes since early January.

"The wider market followed suit and edged up with notable sectors including financials, cements, fertilisers and steels finishing the day with modest gains as participants cherry-picked value plays with stocks that are candidates for inclusion in MSCI Pakistan Index or the ones that stand to benefit most from CPEC and related infra-structure projects seeing most interest," he added.



Overall, trading volumes rose to 352 million shares compared with Friday's tally of 346 million.

Shares of 405 companies were traded. At the end of the day, 213 stocks closed higher and 177 declined while 15 remained unchanged. The value of shares traded during the day was Rs23.1 billion.

Engro Polymer was the volume leader with 35.9 million shares, gaining Rs0.67 to close at Rs31.18. It was followed by Dost Steels Limited with 19.5 million shares, gaining Rs1 to close at Rs14.2 and Bank of Punjab XR with 12 million shares, gaining Rs0.05 to close at Rs13.82.

Foreign institutional investors were net sellers of Rs190 million during the trading session, according to data maintained by the National Clearing Company of Pakistan Limited.