Market watch: Bulls hold ground as KSE-100 gains over 200 points

Benchmark index rises 0.54% to settle at 38,836.27

KARACHI:

Bulls maintained their grip over the Pakistan stock market for the fourth consecutive day as the benchmark KSE-100 index powered past the 38,500-point mark with a rise of 209 points on Wednesday.

The positive activity came on the back of a decision by the Economic Coordination Committee (ECC) of the cabinet on revising petroleum product prices on a fortnightly basis to help the oil sector to increase its profit.

The uptrend was further fuelled by a rise in crude prices in the international market, offsetting demand concerns, coupled with the recovery in rupee’s value.

Earlier, trading began on a positive note, which propelled the index above 39,000 points in intra-day trading. However, the momentum could not be sustained and towards the end bears wiped off some of the gains.

At close, the benchmark KSE-100 index recorded an increase of 209 points, or 0.54%, to settle at 38,836.27 points.

Arif Habib Limited, in its report, stated that the market opened on a positive note with +154 points and added a total of 497 points. Profit-booking brought the index down to +209 points by the end of the session.

Banking, steel, chemical and fertiliser sectors recorded profit-booking before the last trading day of the week. Among exploration and production companies, Pakistan Petroleum Limited (PPL) sustained selling pressure amid high volumes.

The power sector led the volumes with trading in 93.7 million shares, followed by cement companies (60.7 million) and technology firms (60.2 million).

Sectors contributing to the performance included cement (+62 points), power (+59 points), exploration and production (+49 points), oil and gas marketing (+25 points) and insurance (+23 points).

Stocks that contributed positively to the index were Hubco (+32 points), Lucky Cement (+28 points), K-Electric (+19 points), PPL (+19 points) and Pakistan Oilfields (+15 points).

Meanwhile, stocks that contributed negatively included HBL (-35 points), Fauji Fertiliser Company (-20 points), Meezan Bank (-11 points), Fauji Fertiliser Bin Qasim (-11 points) and Pakistan Tobacco (-9 points).

JS Global analyst Maaz Mulla said the benchmark KSE-100 index closed in the positive zone. The market touched a high of +497 points and closed at 38,836 levels, up 0.5%.

OGDC (+0.5%), PPL (+1.3%) and Pakistan Oilfields (+1.3%) in the exploration and production sector were the major gainers as crude oil rose in the international market after a surprise drop in US inventories, offsetting demand concerns.

Mixed sentiment was witnessed in the financial sector where MCB (+0.1%) remained in the green zone whereas HBL (-1.7%) and UBL (-0.7%) were in the red.

Furthermore, Hubco (+1.8%), Lucky Cement (+1.7%), K-Electric (+9.7%), PPL (+1.3%), PSO (+1.6%), Pakistan Oilfields (+1.3%) and Cherat Cement (+4.4%) were the index movers.

Major contribution to the total market volumes came from K-Electric (+9.7%), Pak Elektron (+3.4%), TRG Pakistan (+1.3%), Maple Leaf Cement (+1%), Pakistan International Bulk Terminal (+2.1%) and The Bank of Punjab (+0.5%).

“Going forward, we expect the market to remain volatile with intra-day corrections and recommend investors to sell on strength,” the analyst said.

Overall, trading volumes increased to 508.3 million shares compared with Tuesday’s tally of 394.3 million. The value of shares traded during the day was Rs21 billion.

Shares of 400 companies were traded. At the end of the day, 186 stocks closed higher, 183 declined and 31 remained unchanged.

K-Electric was the volume leader with 73.3 million shares, gaining Rs0.31 to close at Rs3.51. It was followed by Pak Elektron with 35.3 million shares, gaining Rs1.05 to close at Rs32.08 and TRG Pakistan with 30.8 million shares, gaining Rs0.57 to close at Rs44.80.

Foreign institutional investors were net sellers of Rs343.5 million worth of shares during the trading session, according to data compiled by the National Clearing Company of Pakistan.