Daily Times

Stocks retreated on Tuesday as investors continued to concentrate on day trading-treading cautiously as global terror-financing and money laundering watchdog Asia Pacific Group’s (APG) meeting kick started on Tuesday. In a volatile session, Pakistan Stock Exchange benchmark Kse-100 index closed at 42,346.42 index level, after shedding 184.89 points.

The kse-100 index has been resisting near 43,000 index level due to substantial rally in the previous two months, and the index may continue to retreat until clarity prevails from APG’s 2-day meeting. This week is generally crucial for the sentiment as investors would closely be looking at developments from Afghan-US talks, Asia Pacific Group’s meetings, and FATF bills that are set to be passed.

The market, however, witnessed some early gains following State Bank of Pakistan (SBP) statistics which revealed that remittances to the country rose to $2.095 billion in August, depicting a year-on-year growth of 24.4pc when compared with August 2019. According to the SBP, workers’ remittances have now remained above $2 billion for the third month in a row. However, the index failed to sustain the momentum and lost to profit booking by the session’s closing.

On the day, KSE-100 Index, recorded its intraday high at 42,831.01 after it gained 299.70 points and intraday low at 42,263.22 after losing 268.09 points. The index volumes surged from 289.62 million shares in the previous session to 411.06 million shares, while the overall market volumes also jumped 509.52 million shares in the previous session to 662.8 million shares.

The volume chart was led by Hascol Petroleum Limited followed by K-Electric Limited and Byco Petroleum Limited. The scrips exchanged 63.86 million, 54.04 million, and 42.62 million shares, respectively.

Sectors which weighed down the index were Commercial Banks with 64 points, Fertilizer with 51 points, Investment Banks with 25 points, Technology & Communication with 25 points and Insurance with 16 points. Among the scrips, most points taken off the index was by Engro Corporation Limited which stripped the index of 39 points followed by Dawood Hercules Corporation Limited with 22 points, United Bank Limited with 21 points, Habib Bank Limited with 20 points and TRG Pakistan Limited with 18 points.

However, sectors which resisted the pressure and propped up the index were Food & Personal Care Products with 14 points, Engineering with 12 points, Pharmaceuticals with 9 points, Chemical with 7 points and Automobile Parts & Accessories with 6 points. Among the scrips, most points added to the index was by Millat Tractors Limited which contributed 13 points followed by Nestle Pakistan Limited with 11 points, Maple Leaf Cement Factory Limited with 10 points, Thal Limited with 7 points and Engro Polymer & Chemicals Limited with 6 points.

Global markets: Global stocks continue the recovery path as investors bet upon recent developments on Covid-19 vaccine which has lifted hopes of economic recovery against any chances of another wave of the virus. The hopes were lifted after Phase III trials of AstraZeneca’s coronavirus vaccine resumed in the U.K. after trials were halted last week over safety concerns.

In Asia, stocks advanced lifting most of the markets in the region as investors sentiments were lifted after Retail sales in China rose 0.5% in August from a year ago – the first positive report for the year so far – according to the country’s National Bureau of Statistics. The data indicated towards recovery path, reflecting positive sentiments across the board. South Korea’s Kospi index led the gains among the region, which finished its trading day 0.65% higher at 2,443.58, while Chinese stocks also edged higher by their close, with the Shanghai composite advancing 0.51% to about 3,295.68. Hong Kong’s Hang Seng index also gained 0.32%, as of its final hour of trading. However, Japanese stocks declined on the day, as the benchmark index Nikkei 225 slipped 0.44% to 23,454.89.

In Europe, markets recovered following days of trembling sentiments as investors shifted their focus to upcoming central bank meetings by the U.S. Federal Reserve, Bank of Japan and Bank of England. UK’s FTSE-100 led the gains among the major markets in the region, and edged up 1.53%, while CAC-40 in France and Germany’s DAX index also advanced in the day, which rose 0.47% and 0.21% respectively.

In U.S, stocks continue to advance for the fifth consecutive session, which was mainly led by tech stocks. During the early trade, Dow Jones Industrial Average was trading 150 points higher, while the S&P 500 was trading 0.9% higher. The tech heavy Nasdaq Composite was also advancing during the early trading hours. Among the major tech shares, Apple and Microsoft were trading rose 2.3% and 1.4%, higher, while Amazon stocks also rose 1.6% followed by Alphabet which was climbing 2.4%. Among other dot-com stocks which were recording early gains were Netflix, Facebook and Tesla.