Daily Times

Kse-100 witnessed a day of consolidation amid a volatile session to fall flat at 37,700 points after gaining 50 points. After an 11% index run-up since June 01, 2020, the market shed around 300 points due to profit taking by investors on an intraday basis but recovered well to close flat.

The index started the day with a 100-point jump, mainly on the back of buying activity in cement and exploration & production sectors. However, amid profit taking, the index lost its early momentum and continued to swing between negative and positive territory throughout the trading session. The selling pressure was witnessed across the board including banks, cement, fertilizer, refinery and steel. Meanwhile, a report issued by BMA capital management ltd said “Nonetheless, the index has entered the Overbought territory, as indicated by the 14-days RSI value of 82, a value above 70 generally indicates over buying and we see a pull-back if the market rises above 38,000 level. Index above this level could trigger the profit-taking i.e. a limited technical correction/consolidation. Barring a technical correction, overall momentum seems positive/bullish.”

On Tuesday, the benchmark KSE-100 Index started on a positive note and touched an intra-day high at 37,938.87points after gaining 288.30 points, while the Kse-100 also touched an intra-day low of 37,368.52 points after losing 282.05 points. The total volume traded for the index fell from 328.1 million shares in the previous session to 277 million shares. While, the overall market volumes also receded from 553.71 million shares in the previous session to 457.13 million shares

The volume chart was led by TRG Pakistan Limited, followed by Hascol Petroleum Limited and Hum Network Limited. The scrips exchanged 28.64 million, 25.93 million and 17.50 million shares, respectively.

Sectors which rescued the index, included power generation & distribution by 71.55 points, fertilizer by 22.68 points and oil & gas marketing by 12.40 points. Among the scrips, Hub Power Company Limited remained the top contributor, which added 64.19 points, followed by Engro Corporation Limited by 22.86 points and Habib Bank Limited by 14.97 points.

However, Sectors that weighed down the index included Investment Banks with 27 points, Automobile Assembler with 27 points, Cement with 22 points, Pharmaceuticals with 15 points and Refinery with 10 points. Among the scrips, the most points taken off the index was by Dawood Hercules Corporation Limited which stripped the index of 24 points followed by Indus motors with 20 points, DG Khan Cement with 15 points, United Bank Limited with 15 points and Cherat Cement Company Limited with 14 points.

Global markets: Global investors are anticipating fresh recovery as sentiments were buoyed over Covid-19 vaccine hopes. Moreover stimulus hopes also lifted sentiments across the global bourses. The rally was witnessed after European leaders reached a breakthrough agreement over new fiscal stimulus, following marathon talks in Brussels over four days. The European Union’s executive arm, the European Commission, will tap into financial markets to raise 750 billion euros ($857 billion), which would be distributed among countries and sectors most affected by the pandemic. Furthermore, Investors In the U.S are also monitoring the talks in Washington on the next coronavirus relief bill, which is expected to be over $1.1 trillion.

In Europe, stocks rallied with banks adding 3.1% to lead gains while basic resources slid 1.2%. Major burses closed in positive territory with German DAX edging higher by 0.94% while CAC-40 in France advanced 0.21%. UK’ FTSE-100 also closed fractionally higher.

Asian stocks were also positive throughout the trading session with Asian financial giant Hong Kong’s Hang Seng index rallying 2.31% higher, while South Korea’s Kospi closed 1.39% higher. In Japan, the Nikkei 225 gained 0.73% to 22,884.22, while Shanghai composite recovered from earlier losses to gain 0.2% to 3,320.89.

In U.S, Wall Street looked forward for a direction as Stocks rose on Tuesday as traders pored over a solid batch of corporate earnings and looked for more clues on further U.S. fiscal stimulus. The Dow Jones Industrial Average traded 283 points higher, or 1.2%. The S&P 500 climbed 0.6%. While, the tech heavy Nasdaq Composite hit an intraday record before losing 0.3%. However, as the uncertainty continues to mount making market risk averse, investors appeared to hedge their positions by adding to their gold exposure, pushing Gold futures up by 1.1% to $1,837 per ounce.