Market watch: Bourse turns bullish, gains 644 points

The stock market, after two days of losses, climbed over 600 points on Tuesday to a six-month high as investor sentiment remained strong owing to the reopening of Pakistan’s economy after a prolonged lockdown.

Oil sector stocks remained attractive on the back of spike in international crude prices with foreign investors and companies expecting oil demand to recover to pre-Covid-19 levels within a few days.

Pakistan’s request to Saudi Arabia and Islamic Development Bank’s Islamic Trade Finance Corporation to extend the facility of oil supply on deferred payments for another year boosted investors’ confidence. The development further supported oil-related sectors, which closed in the green.

Earlier, trading began on a positive note and the uptrend continued for the rest of the session. Some of the gains were wiped off towards the end but still the market managed to post handsome gains.

At close, the benchmark KSE-100 index recorded an increase of 644.39 points, or 1.61%, to settle at 40,559.15 points.

Arif Habib Limited, in its report, stated that the market opened on a positive note with +135 points and added a total of 791 points to the benchmark index.

Banking, exploration and production, oil marketing, cement and fertiliser stocks helped the index stage a recovery from selling activity that was observed in the past couple of sessions.

The real force behind the turnaround happened to be Hubco and Kapco as both hit their upper circuits on anticipation of resolution of issues with the government, as indicated by the adviser to prime minister on finance.

International crude oil prices were on the upside, which made exploration and production stocks post price gains. An increase in fertiliser prices also contributed to buying activity in the fertiliser sector.

Among oil and gas marketing companies, Sui Southern Gas Company and Hascol Petroleum hit their upper circuits.

Oil and gas marketing companies posted the highest volumes of 94.6 million shares, followed by cement firms (75.1 million) and power companies (72.4 million), the report said.

Overall, trading volumes rose to 600 million shares compared with Monday’s tally of 576.5 million. The value of shares traded during the day was Rs24.9 billion.

Shares of 416 companies were traded. At the end of the day, 254 stocks closed higher, 139 declined and 23 remained unchanged.

Hascol Petroleum was the volume leader with 65.4 million shares, gaining Rs1.11 to close at Rs15.99. It was followed by K-Electric with 36 million shares, gaining Rs0.2 to close at Rs3.88 and TRG Pakistan with 31.2 million shares, losing Rs1.8 to close at Rs47.97.

Foreign institutional investors were net buyers of Rs644.9 million worth of shares during the trading session, according to data compiled by the National Clearing Company of Pakistan.