Market watch: Bearish spell ends with 398-point rise at PSX

Benchmark KSE-100 index advances 0.85% to settle at 47,453.25

KARACHI:

The stock market on Monday snapped a three-session bearish spell and rose nearly 400 points on the back of positive indicators.

During the session, Pakistani rupee lost ground and touched almost a 10-month low of Rs163.67, which provided support to technology and textile sectors.

Moreover, according to data released by the Pakistan Bureau of Statistics, the inflation measured by the Consumer Price Index (CPI) spiralled down to 8.4% in July, which strengthened investor confidence.

Investors remained optimistic throughout the day as Adviser to Prime Minister on Commerce and Investment Abdul Razak Dawood, taking to his official Twitter handle, shared the news of a phenomenal growth of 17.3% in exports during the first month of current fiscal year – July.

Meanwhile, according to data compiled by a brokerage house, Pakistan equities started fiscal year 2022 on a dull note as the benchmark KSE-100 index posted a second consecutive monthly loss, closing July 2021 at 47,055 (down 301 points month-on-month).

Earlier, trading began on a positive note and the market climbed steadily throughout the day. Easing of certain lockdown restrictions and positive economic indicators eased fears about economic recovery and the investors poured money into the market with robust interest.

At close, the benchmark KSE-100 index recorded an increase of 397.96 points, or 0.85%, to settle at 47,453.25.

Arif Habib Limited, in its report, stated that the KSE-100 index, while disregarding the stringent Covid lockdown restrictions, performed well, adding a total of 453 points during the session. It closed on a positive note.

“Traded volumes remained thin,” it said. Activity was tilted towards technology and textile sectors, which was mainly due to the fall in Pakistani rupee parity against the US dollar, which reached Rs163 in the open market.

Besides these sectors, the investors took fresh positions in chemical, oil and gas marketing companies and cement sectors after the successful closure of rollover week on Friday.

Moreover, the report added that financial results announced earlier in the session also helped restore and reinforce investor confidence.

Sectors contributing to the performance included banks (+62 points), technology (+58 points), chemical (+48 points), textile (+47 points) and power (+31 points).

Individually, stocks that contributed positively to the index included TRG Pakistan (+32 points), Engro Polymer and Chemicals (+29 points), MCB Bank (+27 points), Hubco (+25 points) and Systems Limited (+25 points).

Stocks that contributed negatively were Dawood Hercules (-10 points), Lucky Cement (-7 points), Pakistan Oilfields (-5 points), AGP Limited (-5 points) and Bank Alfalah (-4 points).

JS Global analyst Maaz Mulla said that recovery was witnessed at the stock market as bulls dominated the trading session, leading the KSE-100 index to an intra-day high of +453 points before closing at 47,453, up 398 points.

On the news front, the CPI for July was calculated at 8.40% year-on-year.

“Recovery was witnessed in cement and steel sectors where Flying Cement (+7.4%), Kohat Cement (+1.8%), Maple Leaf Cement (+1.5%), Pioneer Cement (+1.2%), Cherat Cement (+1.4%), International Steels (+3.3%), Aisha Steel Mills (+2.4%), International Industries (+2.1%) and Mughal Iron and Steel Industries (+2.6%) gained ground.

The refinery sector followed the same trend where Byco Petroleum (+3.2%), Attock Refinery (+1.4%) and National Refinery (+1.4%) moved up.

In the textile sector, Gul Ahmed Textile Mills (+6.6%), Crescent Textile Mills (+7.4%), Nishat Chunian (+3.1%) and Nishat Mills (+2.4%) closed higher than the previous session.

“Going forward, in light of Covid concerns, we recommend investors to adopt a buy-on-dip strategy in bank, textile and cement sectors,” the analyst said.

Overall trading volumes dropped to 252.3 million shares compared with Friday’s tally of 399.1 million. The value of shares traded during the day was Rs9.3 billion.

Shares of 486 companies were traded. At the end of the day, 352 stocks closed higher, 118 declined and 16 remained unchanged.

WorldCall Telecom was the volume leader with 16.9 million shares, gaining Rs0.03 to close at Rs3.49. It was followed by Hum Network with 16 million shares, gaining Rs0.45 to close at Rs7.17 and Byco Petroleum with 13.7 million shares, gaining Rs0.31 to close at Rs10.08.

Foreign institutional investors were net buyers of Rs28.13 million worth of shares during the trading session, according to data compiled by the National Clearing Company of Pakistan.