RECORDER REVIEW
KARACHI: Pakistan Stock Exchange witnessed mixed trend during the outgoing week ended on April 24, 2020 as the investors remained sidelined due to their concerns over deadly coronavirus spread.
BRIndex100 lost 6.57 points week-on-week basis to close at 3,369.49 points. Average daily volumes stood at 230.273 million shares.
BRIndex30 declined by 202.57 points to close at 16,987.59 points with average daily turnover of 175.225 million shares.
KSE-100 index closed at 32,806.38 points, down 25.45 points on week-on-week basis. Trading activities however improved as average daily volumes on ready counter increased by 46.3 percent to 260.78 million shares as compared to previous week’s average of 178.28 million shares. Average daily trading value increased by 82.7 percent to Rs 11.47 billion.
The foreign investors remained on the selling side and withdrew $2.5 million from the local capital market as compared to outflow of $14.2 million during previous week. Total market capitalization declined by Rs 38 billion to Rs 6.167 trillion.
An analyst at JS Global Capital said that the week started with the release of IMF’s Staff Report on Rapid Financing with revised economic indicators for Pakistan post Covid-19 situation, followed by receipt of the $1.39 billion financing during the week. Other news of potential external inflows from World Bank and Islamic Development Bank also surfaced, along with net inflows from foreign investments in the local debt market. Moreover, yields further fell by 2.18 percent-2.50 percent in the recent T-Bill auction (from the previous auction), while the rupee also appreciated in value against the greenback by 2.1 percent during the week. This was followed by further drop in bond yields in the secondary market as investors priced in expectations of further cut in interest rates.
The index gained in most of the trading sessions amid positive news flows, however the gains barely recovered the loss in index points witnessed in one single trading session of the week (down 3.2 percent), closing the KSE-100 index flat on week-on-week basis (down 25 points). Cements remained the best performing sector (up 5.3 percent) amid an increase in cement bag prices.
An analyst at Arif Habib Limited said that the market commenced on a positive note, continuing the unpreceded rally witnessed on last
Friday over SBP’s surprise rate cut of 200bps. Albeit, the euphoria was short lived with investors parring earlier gains as banks felt the heat of compression in NIMs while oil scrips tanked with international oil prices. The local bourse displayed a mixed trend for the remainder of the week.
Initially leveraged stocks gained traction (cements and steel; amid rate cut and news of potential price hikes) but the market participants resorted to profit-taking by week-end as results disappointed. Whereas sentiment of the banking sector was eroded with the State Bank barring banks from declaring dividends in the March and June quarter of the ongoing year so as to conserve capital. Albeit, large banks posted gains the following day on clarity regarding disbursement provision in case of board approved dividends for the outgoing quarter. With that said, the KSE-100 closed at 32,806 points (down by 25 points).
Sector-wise negative contributions came from i) Oil & gas exploration companies (down 48.6 points), Power generation and distribution (down 43.8 points) and Commercial banks (down 43.5 points). While positive contributions were led by Cement (up 128.2 points), Fertilizer (up 63.9 points) and Automobile assemblers (up 34.0 points).
