Market watch: Index ends higher as FTSE, S&P rebalancing provides trigger

Benchmark KSE-100 Index gains 103.62 points at 42,787.19

KARACHI: Despite a volatile session, the stock market ended in the green on Friday on the back of massive foreign buying due to the upcoming FTSE and S&P rebalancing that would see the inclusion of Pakistani companies in their emerging market indexes.

Positive sentiment created by the development was most evident in the cement sector with most notable names ending on the positive side.

At close, the benchmark KSE 100-share Index recorded a rise of 103.62 points or 0.24% to end at 42,787.19 points.

Habib Bank, from the banking sector, surprisingly gained points while National Bank and Askari Bank suffered losses.

JS Global analyst Maaz Mulla said the market remained volatile, making an intraday high/low of +331/ -145 points to close at 42,787 in anticipation of FTSE and S&P rebalancing of PSX stocks from ‘frontier’ to ‘emerging’ market.

“Volumes shrank in today's session as 200 million shares were traded in the overall market, compared to 217 million shares in the last trading session,” Mulla said.



Mixed sentiments were witnessed in the banking sector where Habib Bank (+3.73%) and Askari Bank (+0.84%) closed in the green zone while, on the flipside, MCB (-2.66%), National Bank (-0.40%) and Bank Al-Falah (-1.66%) closed in the red trajectory.

In the E&P sector, OGDC and PPL announced their results for FY17, where OGDC (-1.10%) posted earnings per share (EPS) of Rs14.83 along with a dividend per share (DPS) of Rs2.0 taking annual DPS to Rs6.0.

PPL (-0.40%) posted an EPS of Rs18.10 and DPS of Rs6.00. SNGP (-3.17%) and SSGC (-0.41%) from the gas utility sector lost value to close negative on the back of news that both the companies have rejected the 7.1% unaccounted for gas (UFG) losses proposed by consultants hired by Oil and Gas Regulatory Authority (OGRA) but agreed on raising the levels from the existing 4.5%.

Investor interest was seen in cements as PIOC (+1.89%), DGKC (+1.17%), MLCF (+1.14%) and Lucky Cements (+1.10%) all closed in the green zone.

“Moving forward, we expect positivity to continue for the coming week and recommend investors to book profits on strength,” he added.



Overall, trading volumes fell to 200 million shares compared with Thursday's tally of 217 million.

Shares of 383 companies were traded. At the end of the day, 133 stocks closed higher, 231 declined while 19 remained unchanged. The value of shares traded during the day was Rs13.1 billion.

Dost Steels was the volume leader with 16.2 million shares, gaining Rs1.00 to close at Rs12.11. It was followed by TRG Pak with 10.3 million shares, gaining Rs0.40 to close at Rs38.63 and Bank Al-Falah with 9.66 million shares, losing Rs0.70 to close at Rs41.49.

Foreign institutional investors were net buyers of Rs1.49 billion during the trading session, according to data compiled by the National Clearing Company of Pakistan Limited.