Market watch: Bulls toss KSE-100 above 47,000 points

Benchmark index gains 573.17 points to settle at 47,198.29

KARACHI:

The Pakistan Stock Exchange extended its bull-run on Friday and jumped 573 points as market participants cherry-picked stocks, which had dropped to attractive valuations due to persistent selling pressure over the past few days.

Investors’ anxiety over the reclassification of Pakistan by the MSCI, which has now placed the country in the Frontier Markets Index, largely subsided and they took fresh positions.

Overall optimism renewed the market participants’ interest in index-heavy oil, bank and cement sectors and as a result, all of them closed with modest gains.

Following an initial spike, the KSE-100 index climbed steadily in the first half of the session and added 391 points to the index. The bullish investor spirits prevailed in the second half as well and supported the market in its close above 47,000 points.

At close, the benchmark KSE-100 index recorded an increase of 573.17 points, or 1.23%, to settle at 47,198.29.

JS Global analyst Maaz Mulla said that bulls reigned at Pakistan’s bourse as the KSE-100 index gained 573 points, eventually closing at 47,198.

International Steels (+1.1%), Mughal Iron and Steel Industries (+0.7%), International Industries (+0.2%) and Aisha Steel Mills (+1.9%) from the steel sector were in the limelight.

Moreover, the cement sector rose where DG Khan Cement (+2.6%), Lucky Cement (+3.6%), Fauji Cement (+0.4%), Cherat Cement (+4.7%), Javedan Corporation (+7.5%) and Maple Leaf Cement (+2%) gained ground.

According to a news report, the FBR chairman presented a summary for strengthening the Inland Revenue Enforcement Network (IREN) to combat tax evasion and leakages of duties payable on specified goods through the enforcement of a track and trace system.

The refinery sector remained buoyant where Attock Refinery (+3.3%), National Refinery (+3%), Pakistan Refinery (+2.2%) and Byco (+1.9%) closed in the green zone.

 “Going forward, we recommend investors to remain cautious and wait for significant dips for further buying,” the analyst said.

Overall trading volumes rose to 427.4 million shares compared with Thursday’s tally of 396.4 million. The value of shares traded during the day was Rs18.2 billion.

Shares of 528 companies were traded. At the end of the day, 308 stocks closed higher, 203 declined and 17 remained unchanged.

Azgard Nine was the volume leader with 39.7 million shares, losing Rs0.25 to close at Rs24.69. It was followed by Services Fabrics (R) with 33.5 million shares, losing Rs0.61 to close at Rs2.78 and Maple Leaf Cement with 27 million shares, gaining Rs0.77 to close at Rs40.25.

Foreign institutional investors were net sellers of Rs975.7 million worth of shares during the trading session, according to data compiled by the National Clearing Company of Pakistan.