Daily Times

Stocks opened the week with a positive momentum at Pakistan Stock Exchange (PSX) as investors were upbeat ahead of a budgetary announcement by the government, scheduled for June 11th.

The Index remained positive throughout the session, touching an intraday high of 48,632.95 points after gaining 421.25 points. But the index pared its earlier gains to profit-taking and clocked at 48,302.66 level by the closing bell, after posting a 90-points gain. Irfan Saeed, Senior vice president,BMA Capital Management Limited said right after the opening bell, fresh interest was witnessed at the bourse, as investors cheered completion Rs89.2 billion transactions as the first installment of payments to 20 independent power producers (IPPSs) from the Rs403bn committed by the government under a settlement agreement with 46 IPPs signed in February.

Saeed noted that although budget optimism kept investors’ interest alive, major volumes were noted in side-board stock, primarily Hum Network Limited (HUMNL) and World Call Telecom limited (WTL). He said HUMNL attracted the highest numbers of trades during the day, following the announcement of its board meeting after a long delay, since Investors are expecting an announcement of strong financial results, after the settlement of issues between the Company’s owners, he concluded.

Meanwhile, Investors’ sentiments remained neutral but confidence remained on a higher side as reflected in strong volumes, a market closing report by Aba Ali Habib said.

Moreover, US oil prices hit $70 a barrel on Sunday for the first time in nearly three years. While prices have since backed off a little from that milestone – West Texas Intermediate was last trading at $69.30 per barrel – it still underscores the dramatic rebound in energy prices after crude took an unprecedented dive below zero in April 2020.

The $70 mark is a staggering $110 a barrel above that record low. The last time the US benchmark oil contract traded above $70 was October 2018.Meanwhile, global benchmark Brent crude oil price traded at $71.35/ barrel.

During the session Market Capital increased by Rs 35.10 Billion, while total value traded increased by 1.11 Billion to Rs.27.69 Billion

The volume at KSE-100 surged from 317.4 million shares recorded in the previous session to 320 million shares, while volume at all shares index rose from 867.3 million million shares to 936 million shares.

At KSE-100 the volume chart was led by HUMNL, followed by WTL and Pakistan telecommunication Limited. The scrips exchanged 118.2 million, 80.74 million and 64.76 million shares.

As per the National Clearing Company of Pakistan limited (NCCPL) foreign investors were net sellers of worth $1.19 million worth of shares.

Among local investors, Brokers and Banks offloaded $6.63 and $2.8 million worth of equities. However, Individuals and Mutual Funds led the buying chart, mopping up $10.18 and $2.49 million worth of equities.

During the session, sectors which lifted the index were Glass & Ceramics with 22 points, Fertilizer with 19 points, Textile Composite with 18 points, Power Generation & Distribution with 14 points and Cement with 12 points.

Among the scrips, the most points added to the index was by Systems Limited which contributed 27 points followed by Ghani Glass Limited with 22 points, Kohinoor Textile Mills Limited with 19 points, Hub Power Company limited with 12 points and Pakistan Telecommunication Company limited with 11 points.

However, sectors which dented the index were Commercial Banks with 13 points, Oil & Gas Marketing Companies with 11 points, Refinery with 8 points, Engineering with 6 points and Oil & Gas Exploration Companies with 5 points.

The most points taken off the index was by TRG Pakistan which stripped the index of 25 points followed by Pakistan State Oil with 12 points, Pakistan Petroleum Limited with 10 points, Nishat Mills Limited with 9 points and Habib Bank Limited with 9 points.