Daily Times

Pakistan equities closed Monday marginally positive with benchmark KSE-100 Index settling above 42,700 points level, up 157 points.

Market extended its rise after a positive opening as it climbed up to test 42,871 intraday led by Lucky Cement (LUCK) gaining 1.0 percent, Attock Refinery Limited (ATRL) and National Refinery Limited (NRL). The volume chart was however dominated by retail plays. Engro Polymer & Chemical (EPCL) gaining 3.7 percent ruled the volume chart with over 20 million shares exchanging hands after the company announced its contract with Taichin Corp China for an integrated manufacturing facility with an annual capacity of 100,000 MT. On the results front, Fauji Cement (FCCL) gained 1.6 percent following the announcement of its annual result for FY18 where it announced an EPS of Rs 2.49, along with cash dividend of Rs 1/share.

Bank Alfalah Limited (BAFL) gained 3.5 percent following announcement of its first half of 2018 financial result, beating consensus estimates on higher NII and lower Admin Cost – however the real cherry was a surprise interim dividend of Re1/share and 10 percent bonus issuance. The recent political developments show that the risk of Opposition nominated President being elected to power has now subsided. With political dust settling we expect foreign flows to once again play a key role in the ongoing week as Quarterly Re-balancing by MSCI Tracker Funds is due on Friday, said Elixir Securities’ analyst Muhammad Arbash. Monday’s major heavyweights namely, Habib Bank Limited (HBL), Pakistan Petroleum Limited (PPL), Oil and Gas Development Company Limited (OGDC), MCB Bank, United Bank Limited (UBL) and Lucky Cement cumulatively contributed +71 points. Traded volumes increased by 88 percent day-on-day (DoD) to 218 million shares while value traded surged to $ 73 million. Top volume stocks were EPCL, STPL and TRG.

Published in Daily Times, August 28^th 2018.