BRIndex100 edges up

RECORDER REVIEW

KARACHI: Pakistan Stock Exchange witnessed mixed trend during the outgoing week ended on June 11, as the investors avoided taking fresh positions prior to federal budget announcement. BRIndex100 closed at 5,284.98 points, up only 1.61 points on week-on-week basis. Average daily volumes stood at 974.391 million shares.

BRIndex30 lost 45.66 points to close at 27,583.33 points with average daily turnover of 719.128 million shares.

KSE-100 index gained 93.02 points on week-on-week basis and closed at 48,304.72 points. Trading activities remained low as average daily volumes on ready counter decreased by 3.8 percent to 1,079.07 million shares as compared to previous week’s average of 1,121.59 million shares. Average daily traded value declined by 15.2 percent to Rs 25.20 billion.

The foreign investors remained on the selling side and withdrew $7.467 million from Pakistan capital market during this week. Total market capitalization increased by Rs 01 billion to Rs 8.358 trillion. An analyst at JS Global Capital said that the KSE-100 closed the volatile week nearly flat at 48,304 level, gaining just 93 points over last week’s close. Even though investor participation declined marginally this week, it was by no means unhealthy: traded volumes averaged at 1.08 billion shares per day while average value traded was recorded at $162 million per day.

Moreover, net selling by foreigners went up this week, particularly in index heavyweight sectors. Most of the foreign selling was absorbed on the local side by Mutual Funds.

An analyst at BMA Capital said that the KSE-100 index is on a steady path to break past the daunting 50,000 points threshold, standing at the highest level since May’17.

The index hit high and low of 48,303 points and 47,778 points during the week respectively.

Declining positivity rate, NCOC meeting and FATF upgrade supported the market sentiment: Active corona cases were recorded below 50,000 for the first time in the last two months. As a result, in the recent NCOC meeting held this week, the government has allowed to lift lockdown restriction from 15th June onwards but at the same time focused on increased vaccination drives. The declining Covid infection positivity rate of 3.1 percent further eased investors’ concerns about the equity market. Moreover, in the recent Financial Action Task Force (FATF) mutual evaluation meeting, Pakistan has been marked largely complaint on 31 out of the total 40 recommendations, which is a major improvement and should bode well not just for the local but foreign investors as well.