KARACHI: Pakistan Stock Exchange witnessed bullish trend during the outgoing week ended on May 06, on the back of fresh buying mainly by local investors and institutions. BRIndex100 gained 105.75 points on week-on-week basis to close at 4,835.65 points. Average daily trading volumes stood at 223.321 million shares.
BRIndex30 increased by 529.22 points to close at 24,790.31 points with average daily turnover of 136.661 million shares.
KSE-100 index surged by 912.32 points on week-on-week basis and crossed 45,000 psychological level to close at 45,174.67 points. Trading activities however remained thin as average daily volumes on ready counter decreased by 27.1 percent to 241.36 million shares as compared to previous week’s average of 331.21 million shares. Average daily trading value on ready counter declined by 32.7 percent to Rs 11.42 billion.
The foreign investors however remained net sellers of shares worth $1.04 million during this week. On the local side, insurance companies and banks were on the selling side, cumulatively squaring positions of $6.4 million which was absorbed by continuation of buying spree by ‘Other organizations’ with net buying of $7.55 million. Total market capitalization increased by Rs 90 billion during this week to Rs 7.808 trillion.
“Reversing the trend witnessed in the previous week, KSE-100 index gained 2.1 percent on week-on-week basis to close at 45,175 points amid dull participation ahead of long week holidays with major activity tilted towards mainboards (KSE-100/KSE-All volumes improving to 78.0 percent in the current week versus 62.5 percent in the previous week)”, an analyst at AKD Securities said.
Diminishing severity of COVID cases (positivity rate over 10 percent) and reiteration of pro-growth policies by the new Finance Minister improved market confidence, he added.
Amongst mainboards, sector performance was led by expectation of release of first tranche of circular debt payment in May’21 (Power sector: up 3.8 percent and OMCs: up 2.8 percent) while laggard was Textiles (down 1.2 percent as EU re-views trade terms with Pakistan).
Overall, sector chart was topped by Paper and Board (up 5.2 percent), followed by Vanaspati segment (up 4.3 percent) while Glass and Ceramics was down most by 1.2 percent.
Scrip wise, top performers were UNITY (up 16.0 percent), BAFL (up 9.5 percent), KAPCO (up 6.7 percent), PKGS (up 6.5 percent) and SYS (up 6.1 percent), while laggards were FML (down 9.3 percent), GATI (down 5.1 percent), AGIL (down 4.1 percent), ARPL (down 3.1 percent) and ATLH (down 2.9 percent).
An analyst at JS Global Capital said that the KSE-100 index gained 912 points in the short trading week as it closed the week at 45,174 levels. In a major development, the EU Parliament adopted a resolution to review trade relations with Pakistan, a step that puts into question the continuation of the country’s GSP+ status. It is not surprising therefore that the Textile sector underperformed the benchmark index during the week, and closed in red.
On the flip side, the Power sector outperformed the KSE-100 on reports that the government would clear Rs 90 billion of its dues to a number of IPPs. Furthermore, the Finance minister has stated that Pakistan would approach the IMF regarding relaxation in some tough conditions.
With regards to Covid-19, even though the number of cases in Pakistan has reportedly declined, lockdowns have been announced in KP and Punjab to contain the spread.
Copyright Business Recorder, 2021
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