Daily Times

Stocks witnessed a day of respite after bears lost ground on Monday, lifting Kse-100 index by 298.97 points.

During the early trade Index failed to break losing streak and added further losses as investors’ sentiments continue to stifle over fears that extended lockdown may further dent economic activity, following continuous surge in covid-19 cases. However, stocks rebounded after value buying induced rally that parked index in the positive territory.

The fresh sentiments were witnessed in the later trading session of the day as Market responded to the approval of debt-relief program under Covid-19-linked Debt Service Suspension Initiative by G-20 countries. The debt relief program will allow Pakistan to save $2.4 billion which it owes to multilaterals like the International Monetary Fund (IMF) as well as on official and non-official bilateral debt disbursed and debt service due per year.

Kse-100 index lost 367.58points in early trade and oscillated between negative and positive territory, to record its intraday low at 33,071.36. However, paring its early losses, benchmark index changed direction and drove north by 355.93 points to touch its intraday high at 33,794.87. The market closed at 33,438.95points on Friday. The total volume traded for the index increased from 59.90 million shares in the previous session to 102.13 million shares on Monday, while the overall volumes surged from 105.9 million shares in the previous session to 161 million shares.

The volume chart was led by Unity Foods Ltd, followed by Maple Leaf Cement Factory Ltd and TRG Pakistan Ltd, exchanging 11.54 million, 8.19 million and 7.32 million shares, respectively.

Sectors, that rescued Kse-100 index included fertiliser sector adding 122.03 points, oil and gas exploration adding 67.52 points and power generation and distribution adding 35.34 points. Among the scrips, Engro Corp Ltd led the gains, contributing 55.82 points, followed by Fauji Fertilizer Company Ltd with 42.70 points and Oil and Gas Development Company Ltd with 32.18 points.

While the sectors posted early losses and drove the index included Pharmaceuticals with 13 points, Oil & Gas Marketing Companies with 6 points, Miscellaneous with 5 points, Cable & Electrical Goods with 2 points and Sugar & Allied Industries with 2 points. Among the scrips, most points taken off the index was by AGP Limited (AGP) which stripped the index of 15 points followed by Muslim Commercial Bank with 12 points, Abbott Laboratories (Pakistan) Limited with 6 points, Shifa International Hospitals Limited with 5 points.

Global Markets: Global stock markets recorded a mixed trend and largely remained negative paring early gains following fears over rising covid019 cases which has rattled global stocks. Hopes over stimulus measles were clouded by fears that governments may extend lockdown restrictions which may hat revival of economic activity.

In U.S, although Investors continue to struggle for direction at Wall Street as hopes of revival of economic activity following easing of lockdown restrictions subsided with resurgence of infections in several states in the U.S. Stocks traded higher on Monday, led by gains in major tech-related stocks. Microsoft shares climbed more than 2% along with Apple to lead the Dow higher. Amazon edged higher by 0.6%, while Netflix advanced 1.3%. The Dow Jones Industrial Average gained 112 points, or 0.4%, while the S&P 500 was up 0.5%. The tech-heavy Nasdaq Composite gained 0.8%.The S&P 500 has climbed more than 41% higher since hitting an intraday low on March 23, while the index is up by nearly 20%, for the quarter.

European stocks however edged lower on Monday over fears of resurgence of virus. In Germany Robert Koch Institute for public health has said the coronavirus reproduction rate (an indicator of how many people a person who has the coronavirus could be expected to go on to infect, on average) jumped to 2.88 on Sunday, up from 1.79 a day earlier. U.K’s FTSE-100 index edged l0.76% followed, CAC-40 in France advanced by 0.62%, while DAX rose by 0.55%.

In Asia, stocks also retreated on Monday, with South Korea’s Kospi index closing 0.68% lower at 2,126.73. Hong Kong’s Hang Seng index edged lower by 0.54%, as of their final hour of trading, with shares of Chinese tech giant Alibaba dropping over 2%. In Japan, the Nikkei 225 closed 0.18% lower at 22,437.27, while Shanghai composite dipped slightly to about 2,965.27. Investors remained away from the market as China kept its benchmark lending rate unchanged on Monday, with the 1-year loan prime rate left at 3.85%. The 5-year loan prime rate was also kept steady at 4.65%. Absence of economic triggers left indexes with muted volumes.