Market watch: KSE-100 gains nearly 300 points as PM leaves for China

Benchmark index increases 0.69% to settle at 42,004.09

KARACHI: The stock market once again had a volatile session on Friday and the benchmark index oscillated between red and green zones before ending the week higher by around 300 points.

Prime Minister Imran Khan's visit to China seemed to have strengthened investor's sentiments due to anticipated good news about financial support during the trip.

Earlier, trading started on a negative note, but a buying spree emerged shortly afterwards, helping the index gain close to 300 points in the first half.

Volatility intensified in the second half due to political uncertainty in the wake of protests across the country, which made the index rise and fall multiple times. It closed the day slightly above the 42,000-point mark.

The exploration and production (E&P) sector bore the brunt of volatility and remained in the red. However, all other major sectors including automobile, cement and financial notched up gains.

At the end of trading, the benchmark KSE 100-share Index recorded an increase of 287.99 points or 0.69% to settle at 42,004.09.



Arif Habib Limited, in its report, stated that the stock market went through various phases of excitement during the day, touching a low of -109 points and a high of +528 points.

"In between, volumes jumped significantly in Oil and Gas Development Company, Pakistan Petroleum Limited (PPL), Maple Leaf Cement, DG Khan Cement, The Bank of Punjab and TRG Pakistan," it added.

A couple of new triggers were political uncertainty on the negative side in the first session, which had little impact on the index, and expected announcement of a Chinese financial package of at least $6 billion, which resulted in a 200-point jump in a matter of a few minutes.

However, it was met with equal resistance through stock selling which pushed the index from a high of 528 points to -20 points in a span of just 30 minutes.

Stocks that contributed positively included UBL (+57 points), HBL (+42 points) and Lucky Cement (+30 points).

Shares that contributed negatively were PPL (-59 points), Mari Petroleum (-31 points) and Pakistan Oilfields (-23 points).

JS Global analyst Maaz Mulla said in line with expectations, the market recovered in Friday's session.

In a report, he pointed out that Information Minister Fawad Chaudhry said Pakistan was likely to get a huge economic assistance package from China and the nation would soon receive a very good news. He added that the prime minister's meeting with the Chinese president remained very successful.

"Moving forward, the market may react on anticipation of the package, therefore, investors are recommended to buy cement, consumer and banking stocks," he said.



Overall, trading volumes increased to 292.4 million shares compared with Thursday's tally of 245.1 million. The value of shares traded during the day was Rs13.8 billion.

Shares of 377 companies were traded. At the end of the day, 253 stocks closed higher, 107 declined and 17 remained unchanged.

Pak Elektron was the volume leader with 28.7 million shares, losing Rs1.05 to close at Rs32.15. It was followed by The Bank of Punjab with 25.4 million shares, gaining Rs0.25 to close at Rs13.32 and TRG Pakistan with 17.3 million shares, gaining Rs1.45 to close at Rs30.53.

Foreign institutional investors were net sellers of Rs70.15 million worth of shares during the trading session, according to data compiled by the National Clearing Company of Pakistan.