Market watch: KSE-100 ends pre-budget session with clipped gains

Benchmark index crawls up 53.23 points to settle at 48,304.72

KARACHI:

The pre-budget session at the Pakistan Stock Exchange (PSX) on Friday ended with clipped gains as investors were wary of pouring investment before assessing details of FY22 budget.

Concerns over the budget announcement later in the day kept market participants on the sidelines in initial trading, however, towards the end investors offloaded their stockholdings across the board.

Moreover, the rise in international crude oil prices to fresh multi-year highs on expectations of recovery in fuel demand in the United States, Europe and China supported the local oil-related sectors at the bourse.

At close, the benchmark KSE-100 index recorded an increase of 53.23 points, or 0.11%, to settle at 48,304.72.

Pak-Kuwait Investment Company Head of Research Samiullah Tariq while talking to The Express Tribune said, “The slight market movement came on the back of already anticipated measures/ incentives to be announced by the government.”

“The capital market was waiting for the expectations to materialise,” he added.

JS Global analyst Maaz Mulla said that a volatile session was witnessed at the PSX where the KSE-100 touched intra-day high of 48,531 and intra-day low of 48,245. It closed at 48,305, up 53 points.

Total traded volume was recorded at 1.02 billion shares where major contribution came from WorldCall Telecom (-0.7%), Byco Petroleum (+4.3%), Agritech Limited (+5.1%), Pakistan Telecommunication Company (+5.7%) and Pakistan International Airlines Corp (+17.3%).

“The government started presenting the federal budget for fiscal year 2021-22 during market hours,” he pointed out.

Investor interest was witnessed in the refinery sector where Byco Petroleum (+4.3%), Attock Refinery (+3.6%), Pakistan Refinery (+1.4%) and National Refinery (+0.4%) closed in the green.

In the chemical sector, activity was seen in Ghani Global Holdings (+7.5%), Agritech Limited (+5.1%), Sitara Chemical Industries (+2.5%), ICI Pakistan (+0.6%) and Engro Polymer and Chemicals (-0.6%).

Selling pressure was witnessed in the cement sector where Gharibwal Cement (-1.6%), DG Khan Cement (-1.9%), Pioneer Cement (-1.3%), Maple Leaf Cement (-0.5%) and Lucky Cement (-0.4%) lost ground.

“Going forward, with volatility expected in coming days, we recommend investors to view any downside as a buying opportunity in construction-related sectors,” the analyst said.

Overall trading volumes dropped to 1.02 billion shares compared with Thursday’s tally of 1.04 billion. The value of shares traded during the day was Rs24.9 billion.

Shares of 413 companies were traded. At the end of the day, 200 stocks closed higher, 195 declined and 18 remained unchanged.

WorldCall Telecom was the volume leader with 120.8 million shares, losing Rs0.03 to close at Rs4.22. It was followed by Byco Petroleum with 96.96 million shares, gaining Rs0.49 to close at Rs11.83 and Agritech Limited with 59.7 million shares, gaining Rs0.35 to close at Rs7.24.

Foreign institutional investors were net sellers of Rs252.4 million worth of shares during the trading session, according to data compiled by the National Clearing Company of Pakistan.