RECORDER REVIEW
KARACHI: Pakistan Stock Exchange witnessed positive trend during the outgoing week on the back of buying in various sectors.
BRIndex100 gained 58.66 points on week-on-week basis to close at 4,939.33 points. Average daily trading volumes stood at 201.953 million shares.
BRIndex30 increased by 400.99 points to close at 25,238.03 points with average daily turnover of 135.125 million shares.
Pakistan’s benchmark KSE-100 index surged by 530.08 points on week-on-week basis and closed at 45,560.30 points. Trading acidities also improved as average daily volumes on ready counter increased by 24.3 percent to 239.71 million shares as compared to previous week’s average of 192.85 million shares. Average daily trading value increased by 13.8 percent to Rs 9.88 billion.
The foreign investors remained net buyers of shares worth $1.9 million during this week. Total market capitalization increased by Rs 109 billion to Rs 9.370 trillion.
An analyst at AKD Securities said continuing to climb over last week’s rise, aided by end-of-quarter spur in volumes, positive sectoral (cement pricing, auto investments, PKR depreciation-led export pickup) and stock related developments (approvals for KEL sponsor handover) the KSE-100 index rose by 1.2 percent on week-on-week basis, closing at 45,560 points.
Stocks leading gains at the bourse included KEL (up 11.1 percent), UBL (up 7.5 percent) and FFC (up 6.6 percent), whereas laggards comprised of CHCC (down 4.2 percent), ASTL (down 2.1 percent) and NML (down 1.9 percent).
An analyst at JS Global Capital said that the outgoing week proved to be profitable for investors. Some profit taking was observed during the third session of the week near the 45,000 points level, however the bulls pulled through as investors continued to regard depreciation of PKR against the USD as favourable for the economy as a whole and for foreign portfolio investment in equities.
Key sectors such as Banks (up 1.2 percent on anticipations of rate hike in the Monetary Policy Announcement), Cements (up 2.0 percent on further prices increases in the North region) and Fertilizers (up 2.6 percent on possible price increases amidst improving dynamics) led the charge and contributed most to the index.
In terms of specific scrips, K-Electric (KEL) remained the talk of the town as Shanghai Electric submitted fresh intentions to acquire majority stake in the company. Despite delays in the announcement of the new Multi Year Tariff, the stock appreciated by 11 percent as the Prime Minister assured the acquirer of full support in clearance of bureaucratic hurdles.
