RECORDER REVIEW

KARACHI: Pakistan Stock Exchange remained under pressure during the outgoing week ended on February 2, 2018 due to selling in various sectors.

BRIndex100 lost 42.53 points on week-on-week basis to close at 4,752.84 points. Average daily trading volumes stood at 231.119 million shares.

BRIndex30 decreased by 145.67 points to close at 24,749.24 points with average daily turnover of 161.118 million shares.

Pakistan’s benchmark KSE-100 index declined by 249.93 points on week-on-week basis and closed at 44,301.20 points.

Trading activities on the ready counter slightly reduced as average daily volumes declined by 7.3 percent to 255.22 million shares as compared to previous week’s average of 275.39 million shares. Average daily trading value decreased by 22.0 percent to Rs 9.96 trillion. Total market capitalization stood at Rs 9.171 trillion, down Rs 46 billion.

An analyst at AKD Securities said that consolidating amidst results announcement, amplified corporate actions and selective investor sentiment following (a surprise) start to monetary tightening by the SBP, the KSE-100 index shifted minus 0.56 percent on week-on-week basis, closing the week at 44,301 points.

Emerging clarity on the political front, controlled CPI read for January 2018 (clocking in at 4.42 percent) and bullish sentiment on Commercial Banks mitigated FIPI outflows during the week.

Gainers at the bourse were BAFL (up 4.1 percent), APL (up 2.2 percent), PSO (up 1.7 percent) and PTC (up 1.6 percent) whereas laggards were MLCF (down 8.2 percent), GWLC (down 7.2 percent), UBL (down 6.4 percent) and LUCK (down 3.9 percent).

An analyst at JS Global Capital said that the market opened on Monday to a surprise 25bps hike in Policy Rate to 6.0 percent on Friday evening by the State Bank of Pakistan (SBP), where the Central Bank believed the increase was necessitated, as monthly inflation is likely to touch the 6.0 percent mark towards the end of FY18.

The banks continue to expect further rate hikes as they remained reluctant to invest in 6-month and 12-month treasuries during the auction held during the week, though they aggressively participated in the 3-month paper. The CPI inflation reading for January 2018 was also released during the week, clocking in at 4.4 percent (Core Inflation at 5.2 percent), albeit lower than market’s expectations of 4.7 percent.

The Central Bank’s move resulted in early gains for Pak Banks during the week; however profit-taking was witnessed in the sector (down 1.2 percent) later as rumors of regulatory actions/penalties on some banks also started doing the rounds.

The Pharmaceutical sector (up 4.7 percent) topped the charts, whereas Oil & Gas Exploration (down 0.2 percent) and Cements (down 2.2 percent) were key laggards. However, the Cement sector showed some late strength on expectations of strong January 2018 offtake numbers (up 29 percent).