Market watch: Bull-run enters fourth day with 445-point gain

Benchmark KSE-100 index advances 1.1% to settle at 40,798.43

KARACHI:

Bulls held their ground for the fourth day in a row at the stock market on Friday as the benchmark KSE-100 index extended gains and moved closer to the 41,000-point mark.

The index shot up as soon as trading began and rose at a steady pace throughout the day, buoyed by strong investor interest and optimism. A few dips, seen during the session, were corrected timely.

Positive market activity was fuelled by a bullish spell in the global equity markets coupled with rising international oil prices.

Moreover, expectations about major quarterly earnings announcements, due next week, helped the bourse to maintain its bullish momentum. Banking, exploration and production and power were the main sectors that remained in the green.

At close, the benchmark KSE-100 index recorded an increase of 444.81 points, or 1.10%, to settle at 40,798.43 points.

Arif Habib Limited, in its report, stated that the market opened on a positive note and after dipping 46 points, the index rebounded with the same vigour as noted in the past few sessions. “Overall, the index has recorded an increase of 2,230 points since the recent bottom touched on October 6,” it said.

Banking and exploration and production sectors performed well on the back of quarterly corporate earnings as well as an increase in international crude oil prices.

Sectors contributing to the performance included banks (+136 points), exploration and production (+88 points), power (+44 points), textile (+35 points) and auto (+35 points).

Individually, stocks that contributed positively to the index included HBL (+64 points), Hubco (+47 points), Oil and Gas Development Company (+31 points), Pakistan Petroleum (+29 points) and TRG Pakistan (+27 points).

Stocks that contributed negatively were Pakistan Tobacco (-14 points), Hascol Petroleum (-12 points), K-Electric (-5 points), Nestle (-5 points) and Abbott Laboratories (-4 points).

JS Global analyst Danish Ladhani said the benchmark KSE-100 index extended its gains after touching intraday high of +477 points. It closed the session at 40,798, up 445 points.

“The market remained positive throughout the trading session as once again value buying came from financial institutions that were presumably driven by oil stocks as crude prices in the international market inched up on the back of supply outages caused by a storm in the Gulf of Mexico and strike of offshore workers in Norway,” Ladhani stated.

Major activity was witnessed in the second and third-tier stocks, which mostly closed at the upper circuit.

Traded value decreased to $73 million, down 24% and volumes came in at 359 million shares, down 25% compared to the previous trading session.

“Going forward, we expect the market to remain positive and recommend investors to sell on strength,” the analyst said.

Overall, trading volumes fell to 358.8 million shares compared with Thursday’s tally of 476.9 million. The value of shares traded during the day was Rs11.9 billion.

Shares of 409 companies were traded. At the end of the day, 272 stocks closed higher, 124 declined and 13 remained unchanged.

Hascol Petroleum was the volume leader with 53.96 million shares, losing Rs0.89 to close at Rs16.69. It was followed by Unity Foods with 34.99 million shares, gaining Rs0.68 to close at Rs17.27 and TRG Pakistan with 21.5 million shares, gaining Rs2.62 to close at Rs49.01.

Foreign institutional investors were net buyers of Rs67.4 million worth of shares during the trading session, according to data compiled by the National Clearing Company of Pakistan.