Daily Times

Bull Run continues at Kse-100 as surge in market participation lifts index to 37,650 points after gaining 319 points. Monday’s rally marked the fourth successive week of index trading in a positive territory.

Ever since the beginning of the financial year 2021, the index has been on a roller coaster 2021, 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 revived economic activity in the country. On Monday the index witnessed a record volume of 553.81 million shares since December 2019, over high optimism of local investors. The investor sentiment were fueled particularly in cement sector over government ‘s plans to build low-cost housing, inauguration of construction of Diamer Bhasha and State Bank of Pakistan’s mandate to banks to increase lending to construction sector. The move by SBP also rejuvenated sentiments in banking scrips.

On Monday, the benchmark KSE-100 Index started on a bullish and touched an intra-day high at 37,741.15 points after gaining 410.30 points, while the Kse-100 also touched an intra-day low of 37,330.85 points. The total volume traded for the index increased from 237.08 million shares in the previous session to 328.1 million shares.

The volume chart was led by Hascol Petroleum Ltd , followed by TRG Pakistan Ltd and Maple Leaf Cement Factory. The scrips exchanging 32.52 million, 27.55 million and 22.10 million shares, respectively.

Sectors that lifted the index included power generation & distribution by 72.88 points, cement by 47.85 points and oil & gas exploration by 28.10 points. Among the scrips, Hub Power Company Ltd added most points to the index, and contributed 56.09 points, followed by Fauji Cement Company Ltd 24.54 points) and TRG Pakistan Ltd 19.18 points.

However, Sectors that weighed down the index included Tobacco with 16 points, Miscellaneous with 2 points and Leather & Tanneries with 1 points. Among the scrips, the most points taken off the index was by Engro Corporation Limited which stripped the index of 12 points followed by Pakistan Tobacco Company Limited with 11 points, United Bank Limited with 9 points, Habib Metropolitan Bank Limited with 8 points and Nestle Pakistan Limited with 8 points.

Global markets: Global investors continue to tread cautiously over resurgence of Covid-19 hotspots escalating economic cost of the virus, as it threatens another wave of lockdown. Moreover, investors monitor global stimulus packages and economic data.

In Europe, stocks witnessed a mixed trend as investors monitor developments pertaining to European Union summit, as bloc’s leaders try to hash out an agreement over a $2.1 billion-euro recovery fund and 7 year budget. Region’s stocks took a hot in early trade over continuous deadlock and failure to strike a deal, but most of the region’s stocks recovered after German chancellor Angela Merkel and French President Emmanuel Macron voiced cautious hopes that a compromise could be reached despite tough negotiations. Germany’s DAX index gained 0.77% while CAC-40 in France advanced 0.29%. UK’s FTSE-100, however, continued to lose ground ad closed 0.40% lower. London’s bourse was dragged down by energy stocks as the scrips tracked a decline in oil prices on concerns about the global spike in COVID-19 cases.

Asian stocks were mixed through the day with Chinese stocks leading the gains as Shanghai composite gained 3.11% to close at 3,314.150. The investors welcomed Chinese central bank’s move to raise the limit on how much insurers can invest in equity assets to 45%, in an effort to bring more long-term funds into the market. In Japan Nikkei 225 clawed back earlier losses to edge up 0.09% to close at 22,717.48. Investors in japan remained cautious as country’s exports dipped 26.2% in June from a year earlier. However, South Korea’s Kospi index lost 0.14% to close at 2,198.20, while Hong Kong’s Hang Seng index 0.12% paring early losses.

In U.S, Wall Street struggled for a direction as investors weighed prospects of a potential covid-19 vaccine and more U.S. fiscal stimulus. The Dow Jones Industrial Average, edged lower by 54 points, or 0.2%. However, the tech-heavy Nasdaq traded 1.2% higher, with Amazon advancing 4%. Shares of the e-commerce giant got a boost after a Goldman Sachs analyst hiked his price target on the stock to $3,800 per share, the highest on the Street. Lagging the Nasdaq, the S&P 500 lagged rose just 0.3%.