Market watch: KSE-100 gains 113 points in volatile ride

Benchmark index increases 0.33% to settle at 33,855.58

KARACHI: The stock market endured a volatile session on Tuesday as developments on the domestic front drove the benchmark KSE-100 index.

The KSE-100 index opened on a positive note but it could not sustain the momentum as selling pressure dragged the index down.

Investors reacted poorly to the staff report released by the International Monetary Fund (IMF), which painted a grim picture of the economy ahead, and opted to offload stocks. Later, an analyst briefing by the State Bank of Pakistan restored investor confidence and helped the index make a decent recovery.

At the end of trading, the benchmark KSE 100-share Index recorded an increase of 112.90 points, or 0.33%, to settle at 33,855.58.

JS Global analyst Maaz Mulla said after three days of negative close, the market decided to play in the green zone as it opened upwards and touched a high of 308 points before retreating and hitting a low of 86 points.

Mixed sentiment was seen in the cement sector and it moved between red and green zones throughout the day. Maple Leaf Cement (-0.4%), DG Khan Cement (-1.9%) and Pioneer Cement (-0.4%) lost ground whereas Lucky Cement (+0.8%) gained value.

Pakistan Petroleum (+0.9%), Oil and Gas Development Company (+1.2%) and Pakistan Oilfields (+1.1%) from the exploration and production sector moved higher on the back of increase in crude oil prices in the international market.

“We expect the market to show some strength with the emergence of further details concerning the IMF package,” he added.

Topline Securities, in its report, stated the KSE-100 index recorded a recovery of 113 points after three consecutive sessions as IMF’s staff report provided some certainty to the investors on the macro-economic front including quarterly adjustment of utility rates, monetary tightening and FBR tax collection target.



“Trading volume continues to remain flat; up by a mere 1% as investors remained reluctant to add fresh equity into the market.”

Oil and gas exploration and fertiliser sector cumulatively contributed 77 points to the index.

Overall, trading volumes increased to 60.2 million shares compared with Monday’s tally of 59.6 million. The value of shares traded during the day was Rs2.4 billion.

Shares of 303 companies were traded. At the end of the day, 152 stocks closed higher, 130 declined and 21 remained unchanged.

Lotte Chemical was the volume leader with 6.24 million shares and no change in value to close at Rs16.67. It was followed by Maple Leaf Cement with 5.6 million shares, losing Rs0.09 to close at Rs23.18 and K-Electric with 3.8 million shares, gaining Rs0.04 to close at Rs4.05.

Foreign institutional investors were net buyers of Rs263.4 million worth of shares during the trading session, according to data compiled by the National Clearing Company of Pakistan.

Published in The Express Tribune, July 10^th, 2019.

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