Daily Times

Pakistan Stock Exchange witnessed a bullish momentum on Wednesday as Stocks extended their rally for the fourth consecutive session, as investors braced for quarterly financial result season. The rally was witnessed following active market participation on Wednesday, which lifted Kse-100 by 579 points to close at 41,535.92 index level, recording an accumulation of over 1,400 points during the first three sessions of the week.

The market witnessed an uphill trajectory right after the opening bell, as investors cheered better than expected financial results of the companies. During the day, Allied Bank Limited’s revealed its earnings for the nine months ended September 2020 clocked in at Rs 12.6 billion as compared to the earnings of Rs 9.6 billion reported in the corresponding period last year, depicting a growth of 31%. Moreover, Bank Al Habib Limited also reported its earnings of Rs. 13.2 billion (EPS: 11.91) for the nine months ended September 30, 2020, i.e. around 89% higher than the figures recorded in the same period last year. Investors also followed the results revealed by Attock Cement Pakistan Limited, which showed the company earned profits of Rs. 691.7 million for the quarter ended September 30, 2020, i.e. around 64% higher as compared to the earnings of the same period last year. While, as expected Engro Fertilizers Limited also reported a 9% increase in net profits to Rs 11.49 billion for the nine months period ended September 2020, as compared to the profits of Rs 10.5 billion earned in the corresponding period last year.

Meanwhile, investors’ confidence also surged owing to the latest Balance of payments (BOP) figure released by the State Bank, which recorded a Current Account Surplus of $73 million for the month of September. According to the central bank, September was the third consecutive month where current account posted a surplus. Cumulatively, the country’s current account witnessed a record surplus of $792 million in the first quarter of the current fiscal year. In a tweet, over the recent figures, Prime Minister Imran Khan said “Great news for Pakistan. We are headed in [the] right direction finally. Current Account was in surplus of $73m during September, bringing [the] surplus for 1st qtr to $792 mn compared to [a] deficit of $1,492 mn during [the] same time last year. Exports grew 29pc and remittances grew 9pc over previous month,”.

However, Analysts believe, investors will closely monitor Financial Action Task Force (FATF) review which will drive the pace of the future course of market trend. The virtual plenary of the FATF, began on Wednesday , Oct 21st and will continue till October 23rd , which will take the final call on Pakistan’s continuation on its grey list after a thorough review of Pakistan’s performance in fulfilling the global commitments and standards in the fight against money laundering and terror financing. Investors are expecting Pakistan to avoid the black list and stay in grey list, since from a total of 27 FATF mandates given by anti-money laundering body, Pakistan has so for cleared 21. However, the government of Pakistan stand persistent to take Pakistan out of the grey list as earlier this month, Pakistan’s Foreign Minister Shah Mehmood Qureshi said, Pakistan would participate in the virtual meeting on the FATF to be held in Paris, and hoped that Pakistan would be on the white list of the FATF soon. Qureshi also mentioned that America and some other countries would support Pakistan on FATF.

During the day, the benchmark KSE-100 Index remained in the green zone throughout the session and touched intraday high at 41,613.05 after accumulating 656.47 points. The index volumes, continued to stage recovery, and during the day market participation at kse-100 increased from 323.06 million shares recorded in the previous session to 398.48 million shares, while the overall market volumes also increased from 492.67 million shares from the previous session to 661.28 million shares.

The volume chart was led by Unity Foods Limited, followed by Pakistan International Bulk Terminal Limited and Hascol Petroleum Limited. The scrips exchanged 64.48 million, 64 million and 47.26 million shares, respectively.

Sectors which lifted the index were Commercial Banks with 185 points, Fertilizer with 116 points, Technology & Communication with 53 points, Power Generation & Distribution with 32 points and Oil & Gas Exploration Companies with 22 points. Among the scrips, most points added to the index was by Bank al Habib Limited which contributed 77 points followed by Engro Corporation Limited with 46 points, Engro Fertilizers Limited with 43 points, Hub Power Company Limited with 34 points and Systems Limited with 26 points.

However, sectors which continued to add pressure on the index were Oil & Gas Marketing Companies with 7 points, Synthetic & Rayon with 2 points and Leather & Tanneries with 1 points. Among the scrips, most points taken off the index was by Abbott Laboratories (Pakistan) Limited which stripped the index of 9 points followed by Pakistan Oilfields Limited with 7 points, Pakistan Stare Oil with 7 points, K-electric Limited with 4 points and Lotte Chemical Pakistan Limited with 3 points.