Market watch: Bourse turns bullish with 54-point rise

Benchmark KSE-100 index gains 0.12% to settle at 46,957.47

KARACHI:

Trading activity turned positive at the Pakistan Stock Exchange on Friday and helped the KSE-100 index post a slight rebound of 54 points in a range-bound session.

Some clarity over Afghanistan situation provided support to the stock market, where a two-day bear-run came to an end. However, concerns over persistent rupee depreciation and current account deficit capped gains.

Index-heavy automobile, cement, financial and oil sectors faced stock sell-off while cement and fertiliser sectors saw buying activity.

The first half of the trading session reflected a rollercoaster ride as the market began trading on a positive note, climbed past 47,000 points but erased most of the gains due to profit-booking.

The second half began with a spike, however, weak economic cues pulled it down. Nevertheless, the market managed to close with slight gains.

At close, the benchmark KSE-100 index recorded an increase of 54.41 points, or 0.12%, to settle at 46,957.47.

A report of Arif Habib Limited stated that the market traded in a narrow range of -24 points and +210 points, closing the session up by 54 points.

Bank, oil, gas and cement stocks bore selling pressure whereas technology, fertiliser and sideboard stocks helped post an uptick in the index.

Redemption on the part of mutual funds put pressure on the index after net foreign selling of $5.5 million on Thursday, the report said.

JS Global analyst Maaz Mulla said that optimistic investors kept the KSE-100 index in the green zone and the bourse closed with a gain of 54 points at 46,957.

Cement and banking sectors remained under pressure where Attock Cement (-3.4%), Maple Leaf Cement (-1%), Pioneer Cement (-0.7%), HBL (-0.9%), Faysal Bank (-1.2%), NBP (-1.5%) and UBL (-0.3%) were the major losers.

Investor interest was witnessed in the chemical sector where Ghani Global Holdings (+3.6%), Sitara Chemical Industries (+7.3%), Lotte Chemical (+1.2%) and Engro Polymer and Chemicals (+1.1%) gained ground.

“Going forward, we recommend investors to remain cautious and wait for clarity on the MSCI reclassification proposal, which is scheduled to be announced on September 7,” the analyst said.

Overall trading volumes dropped to 465 million shares compared with Thursday’s tally of 544.4 million. The value of shares traded during the day was Rs12.2 billion.

Shares of 526 companies were traded. At the end of the day, 201 stocks closed higher, 311 declined and 14 remained unchanged.

Service Fabrics (R) was the volume leader with 83.6 million shares, losing Rs0.98 to close at Rs4.87. It was followed by WorldCall Telecom with 50.6 million shares, gaining Rs0.05 to close at Rs3.55 and Telecard Limited with 37.9 million shares, gaining Rs1.38 to close at Rs21.92.

Foreign institutional investors were net sellers of Rs54.1 million worth of shares during the trading session, according to data compiled by the National Clearing Company of Pakistan.