Market watch: Stocks snap three-day losing streak

Benchmark index jumps 298.97 points to settle at 33,737.92

KARACHI: Despite sharp oscillation that marred performance of the stock market, the KSE-100 index on Monday managed to rebound and pared the day’s losses. It finished trading in the green zone that brought a three-day losing streak to an end.

A brief upward open was interrupted as selling pressure dragged the index lower. Investors had been wary of developments of the past week. In addition to that, continuously increasing Covid-19 cases also tempered with gains.

However, bulls staged a comeback later in the day and cherry-picked stocks at attractive valuations.

At close, the benchmark KSE-100 index recorded an increase of 298.97 points, or 0.89%, to settle at 33,737.92 points.

According to an Arif Habib Limited report, the market went down in the early part of the session, declining by 368 points, but rebounded later to recoup all the losses. There was a movement of 723 points in intra-day trading.

“The fertiliser sector contributed to the positivity, mainly on the back of Engro Fertilisers and Fauji Fertiliser Company, which was further aided by a rebound in exploration and production stocks (OGDC and Pakistan Petroleum),” the report said.

“Among banks, Bank Alfalah and MCB, which were positive on the last trading day due to FTSE rebalancing, sustained losses but otherwise banking sector stocks recorded some brisk buying, especially Faysal Bank, which hit its upper circuit,” the report added.

Sectors contributing to the performance included fertiliser (+120 points), exploration and production (+64 points), power (+33 points), banks (+25 points) and auto (+23 points).

Stocks that contributed positively to the index included Fauji Fertiliser Company (+49 points), Engro (+48 points), OGDC (+30 points), Hubco (+26 points) and Engro Fertilisers (+21 points).

Stocks that contributed negatively were AGP Limited (-14 points), MCB (-12 points), Abbott Laboratories (-5 points), Shifa International Hospitals (-5 points) and Nestle (-5 points).

Overall, trading volumes increased to 161.3 million shares compared with Friday’s tally of 105.9 million. The value of shares traded during the day was Rs6.1 billion.

Shares of 357 companies were traded. At the end of the day, 146 stocks closed higher, 190 declined and 21 remained unchanged.

Unity Foods was the volume leader with 11.5 million shares, losing Rs0.19 to close at Rs11.34. It was followed by Maple Leaf Cement with 8.2 million shares, losing Rs0.19 to close at Rs24.51 and TRG Pakistan with 7.3 million shares, gaining Rs0.29 to close at Rs25.89.

Foreign institutional investors were net sellers of Rs402 million worth of shares during the trading session, according to data compiled by the National Clearing Company of Pakistan.