Daily Times

Bull-run resumed at Pakistan stock exchange on the first day of the week, to lift index above 38,000 mark after 613.51 points rally. Benchmark Kse-100 index witnessed a promising start on the back of solid rally in the banking sector as it is set to unveil its first half-year earnings.

The index has recorded over 12% run-up since June 01, 2020, beginning of the financial year over solid market fundamentals and earnings season. Despite a week of consolidation and volatility in the previous week, the investors continue to support strong market rally on Monday. The sentiments were buoyed by better than expected Habib Bank Limited (HBL) results which lifted the entire banking sector, after the bank announced an exorbitant after-tax profit of Rs15.1 billion for the half-year ended June 30, 2020, which is 286% more than the same period last year, defying market expectations. Moreover, the sentiments were further cemented by a dip in covid-19 cases lifting hopes of revival of economic activity in the country which has been dampened since the beginning of the year. However, investors’ anticipation of a further cut in Sate bank of Pakistan policy rate died after the central bank announced to defer its monetary policy meeting for the next two weeks.

The benchmark KSE-100 Index remained in the green throughout the session, registering its intraday high at 38,291.77 after gaining 684.15 points. The index recorded a volume of nearly 184 million shares , while, the overall market volumes increased from 266.5 million shares in the previous session to 288.1 million shares.

The volume chart was led by Pak Elektron Limited followed by TRG Pakistan Limited and Pakistan Refinery Limited. The scrips exchanged 28.92 million, 19.99 million and 18.45 million shares, respectively.

The sectors which lifted the index included banking with 283 points, followed by Cement with 75 points, Technology & Communication with 47 points, Oil & Gas Exploration Companies with 45 points and Fertilizer with 45 points. Among the scrips, Habib Bank Limited contributed the most points to the index adding 98 points followed by Bank Al Habib Limited with 51 points, Lucky Cement with 39 points, Meezan Bank Limited with 36 points and TRG Pakistan Limited with 30 points.

However, Sectors that weighed down the index included Investment Banks with 7 points, followed by Mutual Fund with 1 points and Glass & Ceramics with 1 points. Among the scrips, the most points taken off the index was by Dawood Hercules Corporation Limited which stripped the index of 10 points followed by Atlas Honda Limited with 4 points, Murree Brewery Company Limited with 3 points, Kot Addu Power Company Limited with 2 points and ICI Pakistan Limited with 2 points.

Global markets: Global stocks witnessed a mixed trend as investors struggled to find a direction over escalating U.S- China tensions as U.S. consulate in Chengdu shut down on Monday in compliance with a retaliatory measure from Beijing, after Washington ordered the closure of the Chinese consulate in Houston. Tensions between the world’s two largest economies, along with lingering fears about the covid-19 pandemic in the U.S. and elsewhere, also pushed gold prices to new record highs as investors sought safety. Spot gold touched as high as $1,943.9275 per ounce during Asia Pacific trading hours.

In Europe, most of the stocks retreated the pan-European Stoxx 600 provisionally ended down 0.2%, with travel and leisure stocks tumbling 2.8% to lead losses while basic resources climbed over 1%. Among the major bourses, CAC-40 in Paris led the losses and ended 0.24% lower followed by UK’s FTSE-100 which edged lower by 0.20%.

Asian stocks witnessed a mixed trend as investors continued to watch for developments on Covid-19. Among the major markets, South Korea’s Kospi index advanced 0.79% to end its trading day at 2,217.86, while Hong Kong’s Hang Seng index declined by 0.41%, as of its final hour of trading. Chinese stocks added to the gains with the Shanghai composite rising 0.26% to about 3,205.23. Meanwhile, in Japan, Nikkei 225 slipped 0.16% to 22,715.85 paring earlier losses after Bank of Japan’s Summary of Opinions for its mid-July meeting, released Monday, said the country’s economy is expected to “pick up moderately” from the second half of 2020. The central bank warned, however, that the economy is “unlikely to return to the level reached before the outbreak of COVID-19? even in fiscal 2022.

In U.S, Wall Street geared up for major earnings with major tech names outperforming while investors are expecting a major breakthrough as lawmakers continued covid-19 stimulus negotiations. The Dow Jones Industrial Average gained 104 points, or 0.4%. The S&P 500 advanced 0.5% and the tech heavy Nasdaq Composite outperformed with a 1.2% jump. Among the scrips, Apple soared 2%, while other tech-related stocks, including Facebook, Amazon, Netflix and Alphabet, also traded higher. Facebook, Netflix and Alphabet were all up more than 1%. Amazon advanced 2.4%. The Wall Street is bracing for one of the busiest week of the corporate earnings season. McDonald’s, Pfizer, Alphabet, Apple and AMD are among the companies scheduled to release their latest quarterly figures this week.