Daily Times

Stocks rebounded on Thursday after a day of consolidation as Kse-100 index gained 322.41 points by the day closing to lift index above 37,000 mark for the first time since March 11, 2020.

The Kse-100 index have kick started the financial year 2021 with a bang , as investor sentiments remain positive with active market participation. The sentiments have been upbeat following absence of political noise and subsequently easing covid-19 lockdown restrictions which has revied economic activity in the country. However, on Thursday the rally was sector specific which lifted the index in general. The index was primarily led by cements, Exploration & Production, autos and pharmaceutical sector over series of data and announcements. The cement sector was primarily lifted after Prime Minister inaugurated construction of Diamer Bhasha Dam while SBP also mandated banks to increase lending to construction sector. Moreover, E&Ps also closed in green as international crude oil price remained upbeat at $43.77/barrel. Moreover, despite plunging yearly sales amid lockdown, investors were upbeat over reopening of the industry.

On Tuesday, the benchmark KSE-100 Index started the day on a positive note and touched an intra-day high at 37,029.25 points after gaining 350.22.76 points. While, the Kse-100 also touched an intra low of 36,679.03 points. The total volume traded for the index slightly increased from 227.61 shares in the previous session to 237.08 million shares. While the all share volume jumped from 328.39 million shares in the previous session to 402.55million shares.

The volume chart was led by JS Bank Limited, followed by Maple Leaf Cement Factory Limited and Pak Elektron Limited. The scrips exchanged 31.68 million, 24.85 million and 24.12 million shares, respectively.

Sectors that lifted the index included oil & gas exploration by 66.12 points, cement by 65.83 points and banking by 46.34 points. Among the scrips, Lucky Cement Limited contributed the most points to the index, adding 38.09 points, followed by Pak Petroleum Limited 37.25 points and Habib Bank Limited 32.18 points.

However, Sectors that added pressure and dented the index included Insurance with 3 points, Textile Spinning with 3 points, Miscellaneous with 2 points, Leather & Tanneries with 2 points and Sugar & Allied Industries with 1 points. Among the scrips, the most points taken off the index was by Colgate-Palmolive (Pakistan) Limited which stripped the index of 13 points followed by Bank Al Falah Limited with 8 points, Hascol Petroleum Limited with 6 points, EFU General Insurance Limited with 5 points and Cherat Cement Company Limited with 4 points.

Global markets: After a day of recovery, global stocks retreated over resurgence of Covid-19 hotspots escalating economic cost of the virus, as it threatens another wave of lockdown. Moreover, global sell off was witnessed in the risk equities over deteriorating U.S- China relations which may result in scrapping of Phase-1 trade deal signed between the largest two global economies. The White House has reiterated that it had not ruled out further sanctions on top Chinese officials to punish China for its handling of Hong Kong. The United States also said it was studying the national security risks of social media applications including China’s TikTok and WeChat. In response to U.S measures, China said it will respond to “bullying” tactics from Washington.

In Europe, stocks lost the ground with the travel and leisure sector leading the losses, while losses while the construction and material stocks bucked the trend to add 0.5%. The market participation in major bourses as the regional block is yet to decide on the bailout fund to support struggling economies. The heads of 27 EU nations will meet face-to-face on Friday for the first time since COVID-19 pushed Europe into a sweeping lockdown. They will haggle over their next budget proposed at $1.22 trillion for 2021-27 and an attached recovery fund of 750 billion euros in grants and loans. The uncertainty led FTSE-100 in UK to close 0.31% lower, while German DAX index edged lower by 0.19%. CAC-40 in France also struggled to find the ground and edged lower by 0.16%.

Asian stocks also pulled back over escalating U.S china tensions leading Chinese stocks to record major losses amid major sell off. China’s benchmark index Shanghai composite lost 4.5% to about 3,210.10 while Hong Kong’s Hang Seng index declined 2% to close at 24,970.69. South Korea’s Kospi index declined 0.82% to close at 2,183.76 as the Bank of Korea kept its base rate unchanged at 0.5%. Japan’s Nikkei 225 also plunged by 0.76% to close at 22,770.36.

In U.S, Wall Street snapped its four day winning rally over fresh results, as investors pored over the latest corporate earnings reports and mixed U.S. economic data. The Dow Jones Industrial Average dropped 60 points, or 0.2%. The S&P 500 slid 0.6% and the tech heavy Nasdaq Composite lost 1.3%.The major losses were recorded by tech stocks, with Amazon, Microsoft, Facebook, Alphabet and Netflix among the losers.

However, investors pulled back over gloomy weekly jobless claims number that came in slightly worse than expected. U.S Labor Department revealed a total of 1.3 million Americans filed for unemployment benefits last week, compared to Dow Jones estimates of 1.25 million first-time filers.