Bulls maintained their hold over the Pakistan Stock Exchange on Tuesday and extended the rally witnessed in the previous session as investors took cue from the encouraging current account data, released a day ago by the State Bank of Pakistan.
The encouraging numbers strengthened market hopes of swift economic recovery over the next few months.
In addition to that, the investors cherished Sindh Assembly’s move of abolishing 3% capital value tax (CVT) on immoveable property in the Finance Bill.
All index-heavy sectors attracted investment, particularly automobile, fertiliser, cement and banking.
Despite a negligible movement in international crude oil prices, the local oil-related sectors attracted substantial buying and they closed entirely in the green.
Earlier, trading began with a sharp spike and the KSE-100 index crossed the 40,000-point mark within the first few minutes. The market remained on the upward trajectory for the rest of the day and closed with handsome gains.
At close, the benchmark KSE-100 index recorded an increase of 490.22 points, or 1.23%, to settle at 40,292.82 points.
Arif Habib Limited, in its report, stated that the market opened on a positive note and carried the momentum by adding a total of 538 points. It closed the session up by 490 points.
“Banking sector stocks advanced and were supported by a rebound in stock prices of exploration and production, oil marketing, refinery, chemical and steel sectors,” it said. “Expectation of a rebound in the economy and current account surplus helped the index stage a recovery.”
The cement sector contributed positively on the back of higher sales in August 2020. Selling pressure on the exploration and production and oil marketing companies subsided compared with the past few sessions, making it possible for stocks of these companies to post price growth.
The cement sector topped the volumes with trading in 88 million shares, followed by oil and gas marketing companies (66.4 million) and technology firms (56.7 million), the report said.
JS Global analyst Danish Ladhani said the benchmark KSE-100 index remained in the positive zone, hitting a high of +538 points to finally close at 40,293, up 490 points.
“The market traded skywards where financial, fertiliser and exploration and production stocks were the major movers,” he said.
Lucky Cement (-0.6%) closed negative as it announced FY20 consolidated earnings per share (EPS) of Rs18.96, down 46% year-on-year, with no cash payout.
Pakistan Petroleum (+1.2%), Pakistan Oilfields (+1.9%) and Oil and Gas Development Company (+1.5%) in the exploration and production sector were in the positive zone despite mixed international crude oil prices due to expectation of massive production cuts in the US Gulf coast.
Moreover, Mari Petroleum (+3.2%), Hubco (+2.9%), HBL (+1.7%), UBL (+2.1%), Oil and Gas Development Company (+1.5%) and Pakistan Oilfields (+1.9%) were the major movers.
Traded value stood at $121 million, up 36% and volumes stood at 535 million shares, up 44%.
“Going forward, we expect the market to trade sideways due to absence of any immediate triggers and the rollover week, and recommend investors to sell on strength,” the analyst said.
Overall, trading volumes soared to 535.1 million shares compared with Monday’s tally of 371.7 million. The value of shares traded during the day was Rs20.3 billion.
Shares of 402 companies were traded. At the end of the day, 278 stocks closed higher, 104 declined and 20 remained unchanged.
Hascol Petroleum was the volume leader with 50.4 million shares, gaining Rs0.9 to close at Rs16.96. It was followed by Unity Foods (R) with 37.7 million shares, losing Rs0.22 to close at Rs3.81 and TRG Pakistan with 30.1 million shares, gaining Rs2.23 to close at Rs56.69.
Foreign institutional investors were net buyers of Rs395.8 million worth of shares during the trading session, according to data compiled by the National Clearing Company of Pakistan.
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