Market watch: KSE-100 jumps 897 points ahead of PM's visit to China

Benchmark index increases 2.21% to settle at 41,453.76

KARACHI: The KSE-100 index, in a phenomenal rally, surged over 900 points in intra-day trading at the stock market on Monday and ended the day with significant gains ahead of Prime Minister Imran Khan's visit to China.

All eyes were focused on the trip during which Beijing was expected to announce a financial support package for Pakistan.

In the morning, the trading kicked off on a positive note as the KSE-100 index shot up, powering past the 41,300-point mark in the first hour. Many investors were in a buoyant mood and bought stocks across the board.

However, huge interest was noted in steel and cement shares on speculation that the government was going to announce incentives for the two sectors in order to give a boost to their exports.

"PSX (Pakistan Stock Exchange) is up on expectation of inflows of around $2 billion in a soft loan from China," Arif Habib Limited Head of Equity Sales Saad bin Ahmed said while talking to The Express Tribune.

The expectation grew ahead of the premier's visit to China at the weekend.



Earlier, the benchmark index soared 7.5% (or 2,882 points) in previous three sessions and stood at 40,556.45 points on Friday, bouncing back from a 28-month low hit in the prior session.

The boom came after Pakistan attracted a $6-billion assistance package from Saudi Arabia last week. Besides, the country was hoping to receive another $6 billion from the UAE.

The expected inflows are set to help the country avert a balance of payments crisis in relation to import payments and debt servicing. Ahmed anticipated that the index would touch 45,000 points in the current week.

The expected boom is believed to be followed by profit-taking until the time Pakistan achieves an International Monetary Fund (IMF) bailout in addition to inflows from friendly countries. The IMF loan is expected in the second half of December.

At the end of trading, the benchmark KSE 100-share Index recorded an increase of 897.31 points or 2.21% to settle at 41,453.76.

Elixir Securities' analyst Murtaza Jafar said the KSE-100 index continued its upward journey and closed at 41,454, up 2.21%.

"Total market turnover of 460 million shares was the highest since May 24, 2017 while the traded value of $117 million was the highest since January 24, 2018," Jafar pointed out.

Lucky Cement (+5%) announced consolidated 1QFY19 earnings per share (EPS) of Rs9.14, higher than the estimate due to lower-than-expected taxes, whereas the gross profit was in line with the estimate.

Nishat Chunian Limited (+5%) announced 1QFY19 EPS of Rs5.68, up 3.4 times year-on-year.



"Going forward, news flow from the upcoming trip of the PM to China will drive sentiments while immediate support currently stands at 40,550-40,800 levels," he added.

Overall, trading volumes jumped to 461 million shares compared with Friday's tally of 368.3 million. The value of shares traded during the day was Rs15.8 billion.

Shares of 410 companies were traded. At the end of the day, 274 stocks closed higher, 121 declined and 15 remained unchanged.

The Bank of Punjab was the volume leader with 63.4 million shares, gaining Rs0.96 to close at Rs13.08. It was followed by K-Electric Limited with 44.1 million shares, gaining Rs0.28 to close at Rs6.27 and Lotte Chemical with 35.4 million shares, losing Rs0.26 to close at Rs19.66.

Foreign institutional investors were net sellers of Rs1.21 billion worth of shares during the trading session, according to data compiled by the National Clearing Company of Pakistan.