Daily Times

Pakistan Stock Exchange witnessed a range bound session on the last trading day of the week as Kse-100 index closed at 40,164.02 points after gaining 95.52 points.

On Friday, the index opened with bearish sentiments dominating the market sentiments as equity investors continued to weigh in the political chaos as Pakistan Democratic Movement (PDM), a coalition of nearly dozens of political parties geared up for October 16, 2020 protest in Gujranwala’s Jinnah Stadium.

However, value hunters entered the market to cherry pick oversold stocks at attractive rates, as market welcomed quarterly result season. In the second session, before closing hour, the market reversed its direction, to par earlier losses and entered positive territory, primarily after Habib Bank Limited (HBL) announced its financial results , and declared a consolidated profit after tax of Rs25.3 billion for the first nine months of 2020, an almost threefold growth over the same period last year. The index heavy weight scrip revealed that the Profit before tax for the first nine months of 2020 more than doubled, to Rs42.9 billion. The bank’s earnings per share increased to Rs17.17 compared to Rs5.89 in 9M’19. Aided by the strong earnings stream, the bank’s CAR rose by 125 bps in the third quarter, to 17.8%.

During the week, the market witnessed a volatile activity, however, positive news flow cemented market confidence. Investors cheered G20’s decision to extend its debt relief to help poor countries fight the Covid-19 pandemic by another six months. Originally approved in May 2020, the Debt Service Suspension Initiative (DSSI) was supposed to run till December 2020. Pakistan was approved under the initiative and $1.8 billion of its external debt service payments falling due till December were rescheduled under it. With the new announcement made on Wednesday, all debt service payments owed to bilateral creditors from December to June 2021 will also be rescheduled. The move by the elite club of 20 countries will help cushion Pakistan’s cash strapped economy to avoid liquidity crunch.

Moreover, market also cheered an appreciation of Rupee against the dollar during the week, after Rupee hit five month high against the greenback touching Rs162.80 in the interbank market. This came after during the last five months, the dollar touched its highest rate on August 27, hitting Rs168.43 and then began fluctuating between Rs165 and Rs166. The recent appreciation of the currency came following SBP’s move to allow rupee to depreciate massively in the inter-bank market after finalization of an agreement with the IMF for a loan programme on May 12, 2019. The IMF has asked Pakistan to end state control of the rupee and let the currency move freely to find its equilibrium against the US dollar and other major world currencies. Also, the World Bank, which finances some of the infrastructure and social safety net projects in Pakistan, has supported the idea of leaving the rupee free from state control in a bid to give boost to exports and fix a faltering economy.

During the day, the benchmark KSE-100 Index oscillated between negative and positive territory touching its intraday low at 39,742.25 points after shedding 326.25 points, however recovering its losses, the index touched its intraday high at 40,220.73 after gaining 152.23 points.

The index volumes, however receded during the day as market participation at kse-100 decreased from 211.93 million shares recorded in the previous session to 155.50 million shares, while the overall market volumes also decreased from 324.79 million shares from the previous session to 254.2 million shares.

The volume chart was led by Unity Foods Limited, followed by Kohinoor Spinning Mills Limited and Hascol Petroleum Limited. The scrips exchanged 45.06 million, 20.74 million and 15.27 million shares, respectively.

Sectors which lifted the index were Commercial Banks with 130 points, Textile Composite with 12 points, Vanaspati & Allied Industries with 11 points, Insurance with 6 points and Paper & Board with 3 points. Among the scrips, most points added to the index was by Habib Bank Limited which contributed 100 points followed by Meezan Bank Limited with 26 points, Unity Foods Limited with 11 points, Fauji Fertilizer Bin Qasim Limited with 11 points and DG Khan Cement with 10 points.

Sectors which dented the index were Oil & Gas Exploration Companies with 25 points, Food & Personal Care Products with 21 points, Automobile Assembler with 7 points, Investment Banks with 6 points and Power Generation & Distribution with 6 points. Among the scrips, most points taken off the index was by Pakistan Petroleum Limited which stripped the index of 17 points followed by Lucky cement with 16 points, ENGRO with 13 points, FrieslandCampina Engro Pakistan Limited with 10 points and Fauji Fertilizer Company Limited with 10 points.