Market watch: KSE-100 gains 400 points on FATF hopes, economic clarity
Benchmark index rises 0.99% to settle at 40,574.52
Benchmark index rises 0.99% to settle at 40,574.52. PHOTO: EXPRESS
KARACHI:
After a day's correction, the benchmark KSE-100 index staged a rally and gained nearly 400 points as expectations of a positive outcome from the Financial Action Task Force's (FATF) review of Pakistan fuelled investor optimism.
Current news flow suggested that the global anti-terrorism financing watchdog would keep Pakistan in the grey list till October 2020 and thus the country would avoid blacklisting.
In addition to that, positive corporate results from some major names lent support to the stock market.
Earlier, the market opened with a spike and the momentum continued for the rest of the day as some clarity on the economic front, following impressive foreign direct investment (FDI) data, encouraged investors to go for fresh investment.
Some of the gains were erased after midday, nevertheless, strong investor sentiment helped the index close with significant gains.
At close, the benchmark KSE-100 index recorded an increase of 399.17 points, or 0.99%, to settle at 40,574.52.
Arif Habib Limited, in its report, stated that the market moved up by 469 points during the session and ended the day with an increase of 399 points.
Trading volumes also improved over the day, which took cue from positive signals from the ongoing FATF plenary session, expectation of tamed inflation for February and higher crude oil prices that helped Oil and Gas Development Company staged recovery from last week's price levels, it said.
The entire oil chain including exploration and production firms, oil marketing companies and refineries moved in tandem and saw buying interest from investors.
Similarly, the cement sector also experienced buying activity that propped up stock prices, particularly DG Khan Cement, which traded near its upper circuit.
The cement sector led the trading volumes with 24.1 million shares changing hands, followed by vanaspati firms (21.6 million) and technology companies (15.6 million).
JS Global analyst Danish Ladhani said equities closed on a positive note with the benchmark KSE-100 index advancing 399 points and closing at 40,575.
"The market remained positive on the back of value buying," he said. "In the financial sector, UBL (+1.8%) announced consolidated CY19 earnings per share (EPS) of Rs15.60 vs Rs12.65 in the previous year."
Moreover, HBL (-0.7%) announced consolidated CY19 EPS of Rs10.45 vs Rs8.22 in the previous year.
In the automobile sector, Indus Motor Company (-1.6%) reported 1HFY20 EPS of Rs29.32 vs Rs87.94 in the same period of last year.
Average daily traded value stood at $42 million, up 33% and volumes came in at 143 million shares, up 56%.
"Going forward, (we) expect the market to trade sideways in the short term on the back of uncertainty on the macro front," the analyst added.
Overall, trading volumes soared to 143 million shares compared with Tuesday's tally of 91.6 million. The value of shares traded during the day was Rs6.5 billion.
Shares of 341 companies were traded. At the end of the day, 222 stocks closed higher, 94 declined and 25 remained unchanged.
Unity Foods was the volume leader with 21.6 million shares, gaining Rs0.73 to close at Rs14.63. It was followed by Hascol Petroleum with 10.1 million shares, gaining Rs0.85 to close at Rs23.13 and DG Khan Cement with 9.5 million shares, gaining Rs2.94 to close at Rs69.46.
Foreign institutional investors were net sellers of Rs769.7 million worth of shares during the trading session, according to data compiled by the National Clearing Company of Pakistan.
After a day's correction, the benchmark KSE-100 index staged a rally and gained nearly 400 points as expectations of a positive outcome from the Financial Action Task Force's (FATF) review of Pakistan fuelled investor optimism.
Current news flow suggested that the global anti-terrorism financing watchdog would keep Pakistan in the grey list till October 2020 and thus the country would avoid blacklisting.
In addition to that, positive corporate results from some major names lent support to the stock market.
Earlier, the market opened with a spike and the momentum continued for the rest of the day as some clarity on the economic front, following impressive foreign direct investment (FDI) data, encouraged investors to go for fresh investment.
Some of the gains were erased after midday, nevertheless, strong investor sentiment helped the index close with significant gains.
At close, the benchmark KSE-100 index recorded an increase of 399.17 points, or 0.99%, to settle at 40,574.52.
Arif Habib Limited, in its report, stated that the market moved up by 469 points during the session and ended the day with an increase of 399 points.
Trading volumes also improved over the day, which took cue from positive signals from the ongoing FATF plenary session, expectation of tamed inflation for February and higher crude oil prices that helped Oil and Gas Development Company staged recovery from last week's price levels, it said.
The entire oil chain including exploration and production firms, oil marketing companies and refineries moved in tandem and saw buying interest from investors.
Similarly, the cement sector also experienced buying activity that propped up stock prices, particularly DG Khan Cement, which traded near its upper circuit.
The cement sector led the trading volumes with 24.1 million shares changing hands, followed by vanaspati firms (21.6 million) and technology companies (15.6 million).
JS Global analyst Danish Ladhani said equities closed on a positive note with the benchmark KSE-100 index advancing 399 points and closing at 40,575.
"The market remained positive on the back of value buying," he said. "In the financial sector, UBL (+1.8%) announced consolidated CY19 earnings per share (EPS) of Rs15.60 vs Rs12.65 in the previous year."
Moreover, HBL (-0.7%) announced consolidated CY19 EPS of Rs10.45 vs Rs8.22 in the previous year.
In the automobile sector, Indus Motor Company (-1.6%) reported 1HFY20 EPS of Rs29.32 vs Rs87.94 in the same period of last year.
Average daily traded value stood at $42 million, up 33% and volumes came in at 143 million shares, up 56%.
"Going forward, (we) expect the market to trade sideways in the short term on the back of uncertainty on the macro front," the analyst added.
Overall, trading volumes soared to 143 million shares compared with Tuesday's tally of 91.6 million. The value of shares traded during the day was Rs6.5 billion.
Shares of 341 companies were traded. At the end of the day, 222 stocks closed higher, 94 declined and 25 remained unchanged.
Unity Foods was the volume leader with 21.6 million shares, gaining Rs0.73 to close at Rs14.63. It was followed by Hascol Petroleum with 10.1 million shares, gaining Rs0.85 to close at Rs23.13 and DG Khan Cement with 9.5 million shares, gaining Rs2.94 to close at Rs69.46.
Foreign institutional investors were net sellers of Rs769.7 million worth of shares during the trading session, according to data compiled by the National Clearing Company of Pakistan.