Market watch: KSE-100 continues to gain ground, rises 322 points

Benchmark index advances 0.91% to settle at 35,694.89

KARACHI:

The stock market continued to gain momentum on Wednesday as index-heavy stocks pushed KSE-100 well above 35,500 points, which rose over 300 points for the day.

The rally marked the ninth consecutive session in the green despite growing Covid-19 cases in the country and overseas.

An extension in the repayment period for principal loans till September 30, 2020, given by the State Bank of Pakistan (SBP), and reduced mark-up rate for the Temporary Economic Refinance Facility provided a positive trigger to the market and strengthened investors’ sentiment.

Market participants anticipated a reduction in the key interest rate in the Monetary Policy Committee (MPC) meeting scheduled to be held in the current month.

Though gold prices reached an all-time high of Rs108,300 per tola, the investors’ interest in the bourse remained unaffected.

At close, the benchmark KSE-100 index recorded an increase of 321.54 points, or 0.91%, to settle at 35,694.89 points.

Arif Habib Limited, in its report, stated that the market gained another 330 points during the session and closed near the day’s high with a rise of 321 points.

Investor activity was noted almost across the board with cement and banking sectors contributing the most to the market’s uptrend, it said. Steel, pharma and textile sectors also contributed to the rise.

The State Bank reduced the mark-up rate for the temporary refinance facility, which built confidence of the business community. Furthermore, the central bank scheduled a Monetary Policy Committee (MPC) meeting in the ongoing month, the report added.

The technology sector recorded trading volumes of 67.7 million shares, followed by cement firms (44.8 million) and banks (31.8 million).

Stocks that contributed positively to the index included HBL (+75 points), UBL (+35 points), Pakistan Petroleum (+25 points), TRG Pakistan (+24 points) and Millat Tractors (+20 points).

Stocks that contributed negatively included Lucky Cement (-15 points), Hubco (-10 points), Engro (-6 points), OGDC (-5 points), and Nestle (-5 points).

JS Global analyst Maaz Mulla said the market touched intra-day high of +330 points during the session.

TRG Pakistan (+7.1%), Pak Elektron (+2.7%) and Maple Leaf Cement (+0.9%) led the volumes’ chart with more than 76 million shares traded whereas total volumes edged lower to 318 million, he said.

Banking and cement sectors continued their upward march where HBL (+4.7%), UBL (+3%), The Bank of Punjab (+3.1%), NBP (+1.8%), Cherat Cement (+2.9%), DG Khan Cement (+2.4%), Maple Leaf Cement (+0.9%) and Fauji Cement (+0.7%) were the major movers.

Furthermore, investors’ interest was witnessed in the technology sector where Avanceon Limited (+7.5%) and Netsol (+7.5%) closed at their respective upper circuits.

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

Overall, trading volumes declined to 317.7 million shares compared with Tuesday’s tally of 333.9 million. The value of shares traded during the day was Rs13 billion.

Shares of 378 companies were traded. At the end of the day, 236 stocks closed higher, 120 declined and 22 remained unchanged.

TRG Pakistan was the volume leader with 38.3 million shares, gaining Rs2.36 to close at Rs35.65. It was followed by Pak Elektron with 20.6 million shares, gaining Rs0.72 to close at Rs26.96 and Maple Leaf Cement with 17.5 million shares, gaining Rs0.24 to close at Rs28.4.

Foreign institutional investors were net sellers of Rs513.4 million worth of shares during the trading session, according to data compiled by the National Clearing Company of Pakistan.