Market watch: Stocks mark new fiscal year with strong gains

KARACHI:

Stocks continued to ascend on Wednesday as the market entered first trading day of the new financial year.

The benchmark KSE-100 index surged nearly 470 points with investors in a frame of mind that the new fiscal year should begin on a positive note.

An increase in global oil prices along with reports of an upward revision in cement prices played the role of catalysts in the positive close of the market.

According to data released by the Pakistan Bureau of Statistics (PBS), the inflation rate rose 8.6% in June, which left some impact on investor sentiment due to which the bourse kept swinging between red and green zones.

However, it remained largely positive but some nervousness was seen among investors in blue chip stocks, which came under selling pressure.

Moreover, despite rising gold prices that settled at an all-time high, the investors remained optimistic about the stability of the rupee, which lent support to the market’s uptrend.

At close, the benchmark KSE-100 index recorded an increase of 467.49 points, or 1.36%, to settle at 34,889.41 points.

Arif Habib Limited, in its report, stated that the first day of financial year 2020-21 took the index close to the 35,000-point mark. The index posted gains of 502 points during the session, mostly in line with regional markets.

Major contributors to the upward march were cement stocks following a recent increase in cement prices and reduction in federal excise duty.

They were followed by exploration and production stocks due to an increase in international crude prices and oil marketing companies, primarily Pakistan State Oil (PSO), which benefitted from a recent hike in retail petroleum prices that helped the company avoid inventory losses at the end of financial year.

Fertiliser stocks also contributed to the market’s advance on reports of provision of cheap feedstock gas to a few fertiliser firms, the report said.

The technology sector saw trading in 78.8 million shares, followed by cement companies (64.4 million) and power firms (44.6 million).

Stocks that contributed positively to the index included Lucky Cement (+95 points), Hubco (+68 points), OGDC (+58 points), Pakistan Petroleum (+41 points) and Engro (+38 points).

Meanwhile, stocks that contributed negatively were UBL (-22 points), Bank Alfalah (-17 points), MCB (-16 points), Bank AL Habib (-14 points) and HBL (-11 points).

JS Global analyst Danish Ladhani said the benchmark index rose to an intra-day high of +502 points before closing at 34,889, up 467 points.

On the news front, the State Bank received $1.3 billion as government of Pakistan loan disbursement from Chinese banks this week. “This brings the total amount of official inflows received since June 23, 2020 to around $3 billion,” he stated.

The cement sector was the centre of attraction where DG Khan Cement (+7.1%), Lucky Cement (+7.1%), Pioneer Cement (+3.7%), Maple Leaf Cement (+6.1%) and Cherat Cement (+5.7%) were the major movers.

“CPI (Consumer Price Index) for June came in at 8.59%, in line with our expectation. Inflation is expected to remain elevated in July due to recent increase in petroleum prices,” Ladhani added.

In the exploration and production sector, OGDC (+3.7%), Pakistan Oilfields (+1.7%) and Pakistan Petroleum (+3.2%) moved up as crude oil prices edged higher in the international market.

“Moving forward, we except the market to follow the same trend and our top picks are cement and oil and marketing companies’ stocks,” the analyst said.

Overall, trading volumes rose to 315 million shares compared with Tuesday’s tally of 223.3 million. The value of shares traded during the day was Rs10.7 billion.

Shares of 378 companies were traded. At the end of the day, 242 stocks closed higher, 114 declined and 22 remained unchanged.

K-Electric was the volume leader with 39.1 million shares, gaining Rs0.27 to close at Rs3.28. It was followed by Hum Network with 30.7 million shares, gaining Rs0.98 to close at Rs13.53 and TRG Pakistan with 26.5 million shares, gaining Rs1.76 to close at Rs30.

Foreign institutional investors were net sellers of Rs569.3 million worth of shares during the trading session, according to data compiled by the National Clearing Company of Pakistan.