Market watch: KSE-100 climbs to 30-month high
Shares of 416 companies were traded. At the end of the day, 304 stocks closed higher. PHOTO: FILE
Bull-run continued at the Pakistan stock market on Thursday as the KSE-100 index extended gains by 407 points primarily due to a rally in global oil prices, which lifted the bourse to a 30-month high.
International oil benchmarks, which soared to a nine-month high, sparked buying interest in exploration and production and oil marketing companies’ sectors at the Pakistan bourse.
Dismal foreign direct investment (FDI) data, which depicted an outflow of $16 million in November 2020, failed to impact market activity as sentiment of market participants remained strong throughout the session. Improving macroeconomic indicators, coupled with a drop in political noise, overshadowed any negative news flow.
The KSE-100 index recorded a rise of nearly 150 points as soon as trading began and managed to sustain the uptrend till the end of trading. The upward march accelerated towards the close and helped inflate the gains.
At close, the benchmark KSE-100 index recorded an increase of 406.5 points, or 0.94%, to settle at 43,766.69 points.
Arif Habib Limited, in its report, attributed another uptick in the KSE-100 index to a consistent and gradual increase in international crude oil prices that jumped 2% overnight in both Brent and WTI benchmarks.
Resultantly, Oil and Gas Development Company and Pakistan Petroleum Limited gained ground with significant trading volumes.
Among banks, HBL performed well, especially in the last hour of trading that ensured a decent close above previous day’s level as well as compared to the recent past.
Other sectors that contributed to Thursday’s performance were fertiliser – on the back of input tax adjustment – and cement, the report said.
JS Global analyst Danish Ladhani said the benchmark KSE-100 index closed with a gain of 406 points at 43,767 after hitting intraday high of +433 points. “The market remained bullish with oil stocks being the major movers,” he said.
As international oil prices hit a nine-month high, Pakistan Petroleum (+2.3%), Pakistan Oilfields (+0.7%) and Oil and Gas Development Company (+1.6%) from the exploration and production sector remained in the green.
Top contributors to the total volume were Pakistan Refinery (+7.4%), Pak Elektron (+7.4%), K-Electric (+4.9%), Azgard Nine (+4.6%), Fauji Foods (+6.9%), TRG Pakistan (+1%) and HBL (+2%) with a cumulative 193 million shares changing hands.
Moreover, HBL (+2%), Pakistan Petroleum (+2.3%), Engro (+1.2%), Oil and Gas Development Company (+1.6%), Engro Fertilisers (+2.1%) and Pak Elektron (+7.4%) were the top movers, adding 167 points to the index.
“Moving forward, we expect the market to remain bullish and recommend investors to buy on dips,” the analyst said.
Overall, trading volumes rose to 497.6 million shares compared with Wednesday’s tally of 433 million. The value of shares traded during the day was Rs22.5 billion.
Shares of 416 companies were traded. At the end of the day, 304 stocks closed higher, 93 declined and 19 remained unchanged.
Pakistan Refinery was the volume leader with 45.1 million shares, gaining Rs1.55 to close at Rs22.55. It was followed by Pak Elektron with 41.7 million shares, gaining Rs2.73 to close at Rs39.65 and K-Electric with 29 million shares, gaining Rs0.18 to close at Rs3.85.
Foreign institutional investors were net sellers of Rs607.7 million worth of shares during the trading session, according to data compiled by the National Clearing Company of Pakistan.