Daily Times

As a result of Prime Minister Imran Khan’s relief package for the economy, the Pakistan Stock Exchange made a minor rebound in the past week, with the KSE-100 rising.

Even so, geopolitical uncertainty and rising oil and commodity prices kept any progress in check.

The KSE-100 index finished the week with a gain of 567 points, or 1.2 percent, at a level of 44,551 points as a result of both upward and downward pressure.

The market showed a rebound trend during the outgoing week after reporting a severe fall due to the Russia-Ukraine situation.

The start of the week was encouraging, as the market rose in the first two trading sessions thanks to value-hunting by investors.

Increased confidence in investors was supported by the government’s decision to lower gasoline and energy prices and to offer tax reductions for industries.

Speculation of a larger current account deficit and additional devaluation of the rupee against the US dollar scuppered the stock market’s recent advances.

The price of oil surged beyond the $119 per barrel threshold and the price of coal soared, resulting in a decrease in trade activity.

When talks between Ukraine and Russia broke down after several rounds of negotiations, the world market took a turn for the worst, and the local stock market remained range bound for the final two sessions of this week.

Additionally, the market remained cautious ahead of Tuesday’s monetary policy statement.

Geopolitical concerns and rising commodity prices, according to Arif Habib Limited’s study, will keep the market unsettled in the short term. The monetary policy meeting, the FATF decision, and the continuing International Monetary Fund (IMF) assessment are all important developments to keep an eye on.

There was a 5pc weekly reduction in average daily traded volume, down to 215 million shares, but a 13pc weekly increase in average daily value, up to $43 million.

Companies in oil and gas exploration, technology and communication, fertiliser, chemical, and power generation and distribution all had a favourable impact on the overall score (19 points).

Cement (67 points), oil and gas marketing businesses (12 points), insurance (12 points), automotive assemblers (11 points), leather and tanneries (11 points) were the industries that contributed the least to the overall score (8 points).

For Pakistan Petroleum Limited’s part, Oil and Gas Development Company (136 points) and Engro Fertilizers each contributed a significant number of shares, as did TRG Pak (117 points) and Pakistan Oilfields Limited (74pc of the total) (37 points).

However, Lucky Cement (39 points), MCB Bank (34 points), Pakistan State Oil (18 points), DG Khan Cement (17 points) and Dawood Hercules Corporation (17 points) contributed negatively to the overall score (16 points).

A net sell of $0.97 million was recorded this week compared to a prior week’s net sell of $3.24 million. Exploration and production ($1.5 million) and banks ($1.4 million) saw significant selling.

On the local front, banks (2.4 million), followed by brokers (2.1 million), reported purchases.

Oil marketing companies reported a 10pc year-on-year increase in sales in February, as well as an 82.2pc increase in the trade deficit to $31.96 billion from July to February 2021-22. The first cargo to be shipped from the Saudi oil facility is expected to arrive at the end of March.