Market watch: Stocks gain 310 points on positive macros

Benchmark KSE-100 index rises 0.68% to settle at 45,654.34

KARACHI:

Ignoring the ongoing political uncertainty, the stock market notched up handsome gains on Friday as investors focused on positive economic indicators.

According to the Pakistan Bureau of Statistics (PBS), exports in December 2020 showed a significant improvement and surged to $2.35 billion, an increase of 18.3%.

Furthermore, the foreign exchange reserves held by the central bank rose 1.98% on a weekly basis, according to data released by the State Bank of Pakistan (SBP), which boosted investors’ confidence.

However, political uncertainty amid continued sit-ins across the county by mourners of the Hazara community, which entered the sixth consecutive day on Friday, gave bears a chance to take charge at regular intervals, wiping off most of the gains during the second session of the day.

The benchmark KSE-100 index opened up and continued its upward march during the first session, gaining over 600 points. However, the index plunged after resumption of trading in the second session, nonetheless, bulls managed to pull the index into the green.

At close, the benchmark KSE-100 index recorded an increase of 309.80 points, or 0.68%, to settle at 45,654.34 points.

Arif Habib Limited, in its report, stated that an improvement in leading macro indicators such as growth in exports (highest monthly number since September 2013) as well as consistent increase in central bank’s forex reserves helped investors maintain upbeat sentiment.

“The impact was observed especially in banking sector stocks, which were relatively laggards in the previous bull-run,” it added.

Contributions were led by the banking sector in terms of points, however, selling pressure was noted in oil and gas marketing companies.

Among textile sector stocks, Interloop Limited performed well on the back of expected announcement of a new textile policy in the coming week.

Sectors contributing to the performance included banks (+160 points), engineering (+25 points), exploration and production (+21 points), textile (+21 points) and fertiliser (+21 points).

Individually, stocks that contributed positively to the index included UBL (+49 points), MCB (+38 points), Oil and Gas Development Company (+26 points), Bank AL Habib (+25 points) and HBL (+21 points).

Stocks that contributed negatively were Fauji Fertiliser (-17 points), Pakistan State Oil (-15 points), Mari Petroleum (-11 points), Kohat Cement (-6 points) and Unity Foods (-5 points).

Overall, trading volumes surged to 696.4 million shares compared with Thursday’s tally of 641.4 million. The value of shares traded during the day was Rs21.6 billion.

Shares of 416 companies were traded. At the end of the day, 222 stocks closed higher, 171 declined and 23 remained unchanged.

Byco Petroleum was the volume leader with 163.8 million shares, gaining Rs0.6 to close at Rs10.41. It was followed by Hum Network with 44.9 million shares, gaining Rs0.28 to close at Rs6.43 and Pakistan Refinery with 38 million shares, gaining Rs0.42 to close at Rs25.68.

Foreign institutional investors were net buyers of Rs50.4 million worth of shares during the trading session, according to data compiled by the National Clearing Company of Pakistan.