Daily Times

Kse-100Bulls regain momentum at Pakistan Stock Exchange (PSX) on Friday, following yesterday’s sell-off as benchmark kse-100 index advanced 588.81 points by the closing bell to clock at 45,837.35 level.

On Friday, the market witnessed buying across the board, after Prime Minister Imran Khan on Thursday during a televised address to the nation announced that he would obtain a vote of confidence from the National Assembly on Saturday. Prime minister took this decision to dispel the impression as portrayed by the opposition that he had lost confidence of the National Assembly.

Investors saw the move as an indication towards political stability, since the sentiments were dampened after the government’s Finance Minister Abdul Hafeez Shaikh was trounced by former premier Yusuf Raza Gilani in the crucial Senate elections on Wednesday, in a major setback for Prime Minister Imran Khan who had personally campaigned for his Cabinet colleague.

Irfan Saeed, Senior Vice President, BMA Capital Management Limited noted that Thursday’s sell-off was a buying opportunity, and Friday’s rally was a result of value hunting of over-sold stocks at attractive prices. Mr Saeed added that Thursday’s index plunge was able to absorb overdue market correction, hence market will exhibit strong momentum in the next week, provided PM Imran Khan succeeds in a vote of confidence due to be held on Saturday.

Meanwhile, a report issued by Arif Habib Ltd noted that “The market staged a partial recovery from yesterday’s session, with investors largely banking on the PM’s Vote of Confidence scheduled for tomorrow, which was further aided by release of Sensitive Price Index data that showed a surprise jump of 15pc YoY, prompting an active buying in banks,” The volume at Kse-100 slightly receded from 215.94 million shares recorded in the previous session to 168 million shares, while the all-share volume also plunged from 441.5 million shares recorded in the previous session to 317.24 million shares. Market Capital increased by Rs.69.71 Billion, while total value traded decreased by 5.29 Billion to Rs.15.94 Billion.

The volume chart was led by Azgard Nine Limited followed by TRG Pakistan Limited and Pakistan Refinery Limited. The scrips exchanged 29.25 million, 21.08 million and 17.89 million shares, respectively.

According to the National Clearing Company of Pakistan Limited foreign investors were net sellers of worth $2.22 million worth of equities. Among local investors, Mutual Funds led the selling chart, and offloaded $2.89 million worth of equities. However, Companies, Individuals and other Organizations and Insurance Companies mopped up $1.6 million, $1.5 million and $1.5 million worth of equities.

During the session, sectors which lifted the index were Commercial Banks with 135 points, Oil & Gas Exploration Companies with 132 points, Cement with 59 points, Fertilizer with 52 points and Power Generation & Distribution with 51 points. Among the scrips, the most points added to the index was by Pakistan Oilfields Limited which contributed 46 points followed by Oil & Gas Development Company Limited with 42 points, Habib Bank Limited with 37 points, Lucky Cement with 35 points and TRG pakistan with 33 points.

However, the only sector which weighed down the index was Tobacco with 12 points. Among the scrips, the most points taken off the index was by Colgate Pakistan Limited which stripped the index of 15 points followed by Pakistan Tobacco Company Limited with 12 points, Adamjee Insurance Company Limited with 2 points, Pakistan Stock Exchange with 2 points and Pak Suzuki Motor Company Limited with 2 points.

Weekly Review: Stocks lost 0.1%, caved in to political uncertainty

Pakistan Equities once again caved in to political uncertainty as the index witnessed a volatile ride to close the week at 45,837 level, losing 0.1% WoW. The market continued to showcase range-bound behavior, touching a high and a low of 46,189 points and 45,088 points, respectively. During the week, the trading volumes declined by 35% to average at 386 million shares, whereas average trading value fell by 18% to clock-in at $129 million.

Senate polls fiasco and monthly CPI (Consumer Price Index) set the tone of the market: Stocks opened the week on a negative note as political noise related to senate elections weighed the index down 272 points on Monday. Although, PTI bagged 18 new seats out of the total 48, the defeat of Mr. Hafeez Shaikh on the hotly contested Islamabad seat was a major setback for the government as the finance minister would no longer be able to hold his position after Jun’21.

Uncertainty in the global crude oil market ahead of the OPEC meeting to ease oil supply curbs and the announcement of monthly inflation data further aided the bearish momentum. On the other hand, the OPEC group decided to increase the oil production by only 150,000 bpd compared to market expectations of 500,000 bpd, which led to surge in oil prices as Brent and WTI crossed $69 and $65.9, respectively.

Meanwhile, monthly CPI reading surpassed the market consensus to clock in at 8.7% for February 2021, as compared to an increase of 5.7% in the previous month and 12.4% in February 2020, Pakistan Bureau of Statistics (PBS) reported. Investors also closely monitored PIB auction results, which were announced during the week wherein the government raised Rs.84.3Bn against the total participation of Rs 130.7 billion. The cut-off yields rose by 42, 31 and 24 bps respectively, indicating a hike in policy rate in the near-term.