Market watch: KSE-100 marches upward over drop in PIB yields

Benchmark index gains 91.94 points to settle at 44,266.91

KARACHI:

The Pakistan Stock Exchange experienced a tepid trading session on Thursday and the KSE-100 index rose 92 points however absence of any significant development capped gains.

Robust participation in Pakistan Investment Bond (PIB) auction on Wednesday coupled with a drop in the yields of securities in the secondary market signaled a status quo in the monetary policy due next month. This news flow in particular revived investor sentiments and brought the two day bearish spell to an end.

Pressure to the downside was led by uncertainty on the mini-budget that was scheduled to be announced by the end of December 2021.

Trading kicked off at a positive note and the market inched closer to the 44,500 point barrier in early hours however economic uncertainty erased few of the gains by midday. From this point on, the market remained largely range bound but still it managed to end the day on an optimistic note.

At close, the benchmark KSE-100 index recorded an increase of 91.94 points or 0.21% to settle at 44,266.91.

A report from Arif Habib Limited stated that the market continued to remain range-bound due to the ambiguity over mini-budget.

Market opened in the green zone as SBP raised Rs158 billion through PIBs, hefty participation indicating yields to stay at the same level in the near future.

Market battled between the bulls and bears throughout the day due to lack of any key positive trigger.

Main board volumes remained dull whereas activity continued to move side-ways as market witnessed hefty volumes in the third tier stocks, the report added.

JS Global analyst Muhammad Mubashir said that rising concerns over the IMF program and mini-budget resulted in range-bound activity on Thursday.

Market closed at the level of 44,267, up by 92 points.

Total traded volume stood at 240 million shares where Hum Network (+10.6%), TRG Pakistan (+5.8%), Unity Foods (+2.0%), Summit Bank (+8.6%) and WorldCall Telecom (+0.5%) accounted for 47% of the aggregate volume.

“Going forward, we expect market to remain sideways in the coming sessions and recommend investors to avail any downside as an opportunity to buy in the cement and textile sectors,” the analyst said.

Overall trading volumes rose to 240.4 million shares compared with Wednesday’s tally of 151.8 million. The value of shares traded during the day was Rs8.02 billion.

Shares of 357 companies were traded. At the end of the day, 199 stocks closed higher, 135 declined and 23 remained unchanged.

Hum Network was the volume leader with 48.7 million shares, gaining Rs0.66 to close at Rs6.88. It was followed by TRG Pakistan with 19.9 million shares, gaining Rs6.82 to close at Rs124.35 and Unity Foods with 17.7 million shares, gaining Rs0.54 to close at Rs27.69.

Foreign institutional investors were net buyers of Rs55.7 million worth of shares during the trading session, according to data compiled by the National Clearing Company of Pakistan.