Pakistani stocks manage modest gains amid volatile activity

Author: Equities Correspondent

KSE 100 Index recovered well after an intra-day correction of 1% in the hope of rumors circulating related to inflows from pension funds. The index closed at 31,829 points, up 78 points during the day. Maple leaf cement (MLCF), K-electric (KEL) and Fauji cement (FCCL) remained the volume leaders today.

The day saw volatile trade with equities oscillating between the highs and lows. Losing 315 points, the KSE 100 Index touched an intraday low of 31,436.22. The index then swung to an intraday high of 31,892.23 points after gaining 141.02 points. It finally closed flat higher by 78.03 points at 31,829.24. KSE All Share Index gained 96.57 points, settling at 23,242.49. Out of the total traded shares, 151 advanced and 122 declined.

Maple Leaf Cement Factory Limited (MLCF -4.00pc) turned out to be volume leader even on the second trading session with 17.68 million shares exchanging hands, followed by K-Electric Limited (KEL +0.62pc) and Fauji Cement Company Limited (FCCL +0.08pc) with 4.60 million and 2.92 million traded shares respectively.

Oil and gas exploration (+33.14 points), chemical (+18.67 points) and oil and gas marketing (+17.32 points) rescued KSE-100 Index from clocking negative.

The top positive contributors to the index among the companies were Pak Petroleum Limited (PPL +22.71 points), Colgate-Palmolive (Pakistan) Limited (COLG +12.84 points) and Pakistan State Oil Company Limited (PSO +12.57 points).

Byco Petroleum Pakistan Limited (BYCO -0.37pc) also released its financial results for FY19. Although the revenue increased by 18.97pc to Rs197.83 billion, the company failed to hold on to gross profit margins which fell from 5.50pc in FY19 to 0.99pc in FY19. The company announced an EPS of Rs-0.32 for FY19 as compared to Rs0.94 in FY18.

While the market was expecting news from Prime Minister Imran Khan’s visit to New York, the premiere talking to US based think-tank Council on Foreign Relations (CFR) defended the seeking of a bailout package from the International Monetary Fund (IMF), to address the issue of huge current account deficit and said, “The economy is heading in the right direction. We are restructuring the economy and trying to create an export-based economy.”