Market watch: Bourse gains 407 points on hopes of finding offshore reserves

Benchmark KSE-100 index rises 1.2% to settle at 34,291.65

KARACHI: Bulls staged a comeback at the bourse on Wednesday as the KSE-100 index surged over 550 points in intra-day trading and closed with a handsome gain of 407 points mainly due to completion of offshore drilling near Karachi.

Apart from that, the approval of a new tax amnesty scheme also bolstered investor sentiments.

Aba Ali Habib Securities, in its report, stated that exploration and production stocks outperformed given the rise in crude oil prices in the global market following armed drone attacks on two oil pumping stations in Saudi Arabia coupled with OPEC's demand for further production cuts in order to keep supply tight and price elevated.

Furthermore, market sentiments were bolstered by high expectations of finding hydrocarbon reserves in the Kekra-I offshore well as drilling was nearing its end and an official announcement of the estimated reserves.

As a result, Pakistan Petroleum and Pakistan Oilfields touched their upper price caps while Oil and Gas Development Company and Mari Petroleum rose Rs3.17 and Rs35.53 respectively.

Apart from this, the automobile and pharmaceutical sectors also exhibited modest performance and closed in the green.

Earlier, the benchmark KSE-100 index shot up as soon as trading began without any downtick. Profit-booking towards the end of the session wiped off some of the gains. Nevertheless, the market managed to close just below 34,300 points.

At the end of trading, the benchmark KSE 100-share Index recorded an increase of 406.56 points, or 1.20%, to settle at 34,291.65.

Topline Securities, in its report, stated that the KSE-100 broke five days of losing streak mainly due to excitement over news of completion of offshore drilling.

"The index closed positive at 34,292 with a gain of 1.2%," it added. "The exploration and production sector alone added 208 points to the index."

Stock-wise, Pakistan Petroleum and Pakistan Oilfields closed at their upper locks (5%). Similarly, Mari Petroleum and Oil and Gas Development Company gained 2-4% in their share prices.

The power sector remained the second largest contributor to the index with an addition of 62 points on the back of possible resolution of the circular debt issue in coming months as stated by a federal minister.

Nishat Chunian Power, Nishat Power and Pakgen Power gained 4-5% in their share prices.

Trading volumes and value improved 5% and 4% respectively, the report said.

In its report, Arif Habib Limited said the market made a positive move following the approval of a tax amnesty scheme as well as news of successful drilling at the Kekra-I well.

Resultantly, the exploration and production stocks performed well and investors, in general, placed positive bets on fertiliser, cement, bank and steel stocks.

The cement sector topped the volumes table with 19.4 million shares, followed by the financial sector (14 million) and power sector (11.9 million).

Investors' interest in Hubco kept its price up for two consecutive days and similar interest was seen in K-Electric, which also topped the volumes chart.

Oil and Gas Development Company, Pakistan Petroleum and Pakistan Oilfields were the star performers, the report added.

Overall, trading volumes increased to 110.9 million shares compared with Tuesday's tally of 105.7 million. The value of shares traded during the day was Rs4.4 billion.

Shares of 327 companies were traded. At the end of the day, 219 stocks closed higher, 98 declined and 10 remained unchanged.

K-Electric was the volume leader with 9.2 million shares, gaining Rs0.3 to close at Rs4.22. It was followed by Maple Leaf Cement with 8.9 million shares, losing Rs0.6 to close at Rs21.33 and The Bank of Punjab XD with 7.6 million shares, gaining Rs0.51 to close at Rs11.42.

Foreign institutional investors were net sellers of Rs498.4 million worth of shares during the trading session, according to data compiled by the National Clearing Company of Pakistan.