Market watch: Stocks surge on remittances data

Benchmark KSE-100 index soars 588.02 points to settle at 43,486.46

KARACHI:

Bulls held their ground at the Pakistan Stock Exchange on Friday, as the benchmark KSE-100 index staged a handsome rally of 588 points to end the week on a positive note.

The news flow of record remittances, touching $3.13 billion in April 2022 rejuvenated investors interest, as they were continuously looking for positivity on the economic front.

Thus, they opted to cherry-pick the stocks across the board, even downplaying fresh depreciation of the local currency against the US dollar, which stood at an all-time low of Rs192.53 in the interbank market on Friday.

Earlier, the session started on a dull note as the index touched an intra-day low of 42,854 points during the initial hours of the trading.

The first half remained largely volatile as investors were seeking positive triggers.

However, the second session commenced with a rally due to the aforesaid positive news, and the investors rushed to assume fresh positions in search of value.

At close, the benchmark KSE-100 index recorded an increase of 588.02 points, or 1.37%, to settle at 43,486.46 points.

Topline Securities, in its report, said that the KSE-100 index opened on a lacklustre note as it traded sideways with low volume, however, investor interest was observed in the second half of the trading, on the back of record-remittances figure announcement for April 2022.

The remittances clocked in at $3.13 billion, up 11% month-on-month and 12% year-on-year, which helped the index increase by around 1.4% day-on-day.

Major contributions to the index came from the exploration and production sector, as Oil and Gas Development Company, Pakistan Petroleum Limited and Pakistan Oilfields Limited contributed 125 points to the index, Topline said.

A report of Arif Habib Limited stated that the market opened in the positive zone continuing the momentum from the previous trading session.

The benchmark KSE-100 index managed to remain in the green zone throughout the day, as Pakistan has witnessed highest-ever foreign remittances during April 2022, giving the investors a much needed confidence resulting in value buying across the board.

Although, main board activity remained dull whereas hefty volumes were witnessed in the third-tier stocks.

Sectors contributing to the performance included banks (+136.1 points), exploration and production (+127 points), cements (+46.7 points) and autos (+46.6 points).

JS Global analyst Mohammad Waqar Iqbal said that after a week of range-bound sessions, bulls made a comeback.

Treet Corporation (0.9%), Cnergyico PK (1.5%), Pakistan Refinery Limited (2.6%), Lotte Chemical Pakistan (4.3%) and WorldCall Telecom (2.7%) were the volume leaders.

“We believe, the decision regarding petroleum prices, progress on the IMF programme and rupee stability will be key triggers for the index going forward,” the analyst said.

Overall trading volumes decreased to 208.1 million shares compared with Thursday’s tally of 284.5 million. The value of shares traded during the day was Rs6.97 billion.

Shares of 343 companies were traded. At the end of the day, 236 stocks closed higher, 87 declined and 20 remained unchanged.

Treet Corporation was the volume leader with 20.9 million shares, gaining Rs0.29 to close at Rs31.74. It was followed by Cnergyico PK with 20.89 million shares, gaining Rs0.08 to close at Rs5.49 and Pakistan Refinery with 14.9 million shares, gaining Rs0.39 to close at Rs15.41.

Foreign institutional investors were net sellers of Rs130.5 million worth of shares during the trading session, according to data compiled by the National Clearing Company of Pakistan.