Market watch: Bourse turns bullish, KSE-100 climbs 637 points

Benchmark index rises 1.72% to close at 37,695.75 points

KARACHI: Just one day after reporting a historic fall, the KSE-100 index rebounded and rose over 600 points as investors took cue from the bull-run in global equities and rise in international crude oil prices.

Global oil and equity markets staged a big rebound on Tuesday after the previous day's massive battering, with signs of coordinated action by the world's biggest economies to cushion the economic impact of spreading coronavirus helping pull investors out of the panic mode.

European stocks wasted little time in recouping 3% of the previous day's 7% slump, one of their worst days on record.

In Asia, Japan's Nikkei ended the day up 0.85%, after earlier touching its lowest since April 2017.

On the other hand, crude oil prices jumped around 10% on Tuesday following the biggest rout in nearly 30 years on Monday as investors eyed the possibility of economic stimulus and Russia signalled that talks with the Organisation of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) remained possible.

On the local front, investors cherry-picked stocks at Pakistan Stock Exchange, which had dropped to attractive valuations following the bloodbath on Monday. Bullish investor sentiment helped the KSE-100 index to partially erase the losses borne earlier.

In the morning, trading kicked off with a sharp spike and the KSE-100 index maintained the uptrend throughout the session. A few dips were experienced, which were rectified timely. The rally picked up pace towards the end of the session and the index climbed steeply in final hours.

At close, the benchmark KSE-100 index recorded an increase of 636.80 points, or 1.72%, to settle at 37,695.75.

Arif Habib Limited, in its report, stated that the market rebounded, erasing most of the losses sustained on Monday.

"The market opened on a positive note with +145 points, however, it dipped later and lost 145 points (intra-day)," it said. "Oil and gas stocks continued to bear the selling pressure due to low crude oil prices that maintained a plateau of $34 per barrel."

Interestingly, stocks of both Oil and Gas Development Company (OGDC) and Pakistan Petroleum Limited (PPL), which were offered in huge quantities at their lower locks on Monday, were disposed of at and around Tuesday's lower-circuit breakers.

PSO turned out to be a major attraction with a positive opening and closing the session at its upper circuit.

Cyclical cement and steel sector stocks were on the back burner, although leading stocks managed to register decent volumes.

The cement sector posted volumes of 86.2 million shares, followed by oil and gas marketing companies (43.5 million) and banks (28.8 million), the report added.

Overall, trading volumes decreased to 274.5 million shares compared with Monday's tally of 308 million. The value of shares traded during the day was Rs16.7 billion.

Shares of 358 companies were traded. At the end of the day, 225 stocks closed higher, 114 declined and 19 remained unchanged.

Maple Leaf Cement was the volume leader with 27.9 million shares, gaining Rs0.76 to close at Rs30.74. It was followed by Pakistan Petroleum with 23.6 million shares, losing Rs5.81 to close at Rs98.25 and Fauji Cement with 16.1 million shares, losing Rs0.27 to close at Rs18.42.

Foreign institutional investors were net sellers of Rs797.4 million worth of shares during the trading session, according to data compiled by the National Clearing Company of Pakistan.