Market watch: KSE-100 stages modest recovery with 261-point gain

Benchmark index increases 0.68% to settle at 38,562.05 points

KARACHI: A day after tumbling over 1,000 points, the Pakistan Stock Exchange staged a modest recovery on Friday and gained 261 points, closing above the 38,500 mark.

At the start of trading, stocks traded briefly in the green zone before a bear-run prevailed, which struck 500 points off the benchmark index.

However, most of the losses were wiped off by the end of the first session as investors began cherry-picking of stocks. The positive rally continued in the second half as well and the market ended the day in the green.

Exploration and production stocks bore the brunt of dented sentiments following two massive falls in the KSE-100 index in the current week. Other index-heavy stocks moved higher.

At the end of trading, the benchmark KSE 100-share Index recorded an increase of 261.42 points or 0.68% to settle at 38,562.05.



Arif Habib Limited, in its report, stated the stock market was slightly negative in the beginning in the wake of concerns over central bank's depleting foreign currency reserves, which were further accentuated by declining crude oil prices and a stalemate over output cut at the Organisation of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC).

"The oil sector pushed the index down by 520 points in the first session, mainly due to selling in stocks of Oil and Gas Development Company (OGDC), Pakistan Petroleum Limited (PPL), Pakistan Oilfields Limited (POL) and Pakistan State Oil," it said.

Positive news during the day about construction of Diamer-Bhasha dam triggered buying in cement stocks, although an important role seemed to have been played by mutual funds by switching positions from banks and oil companies to cement manufacturers.

Stocks that contributed positively to the index included Lucky Cement (+62 points), Fauji Fertiliser (+44 points) and Engro (+43 points). Stocks that contributed negatively were PPL (-42 points), OGDC (-35 points) and POL (-19 points).



Overall, trading volumes decreased to 128.5 million shares compared with Thursday's tally of 189.8 million. The value of shares traded during the day was Rs6.7 billion.

Shares of 354 companies were traded. At the end of the day, 228 stocks closed higher, 108 declined and 18 remained unchanged.

K-Electric was the volume leader with 13.9 million shares, gaining Rs0.35 to close at Rs5.53. It was followed by Pak Elektron with 12 million shares, losing Rs0.09 to close at Rs24.81 and Lotte Chemical with 7.1 million shares, gaining Rs0.03 to close at Rs18.42.

Foreign institutional investors were net sellers of Rs106.7 million worth of shares during the trading session, according to data compiled by the National Clearing Company of Pakistan.