New records throughout week

Barring Friday, Pakistan stocks remained bullish throughout the week to make a 3.2 percent Week-on-Week (WoW) gain on the back of what analysts said investor interest. Staying mostly record-breaking after Eid holidays, the benchmark KSE-100 index ended the week at 39,188 points level, with investors having traded on average 194 million shares. This increased activity marks 35 percent growth over the preceding week.
The daily traded value also rose 73 percent to average on Rs14.3 billion or $136.4 million.
"Local bourse opened in the green after almost a weeklong holiday and continued to gain on the back of interest from foreign and local investors," said analysts at Topline Research.
Foreign investors bought portfolios worth $21.4 million, of which the banking stocks attracted $17.6 million. The losers were from chemical sector braving net outflows of $19.3 million.
Faizan Ahmed at JS Research observed bulls returning to the market after the Brexit fears faded.
"The benchmark KSE-100 index continued to post new records throughout the week, closing at 39,188 at the end of an eventful week," the analyst added.
Ahmed said positives like drop in cut-off yields in recently held Pakistan Investment Bonds (PIBs) auction, overall bounce back in global equity markets post fading Brexit concerns and imposition of new taxes on real estate sector helped propelled market to record highs.
"Buying interest from foreigners also revived with impressive net inflows," he said.
Overall buzz in the market, the analyst said, resulted into increased participation as well which is evident from jump in volumes and the value traded.
Of the key sectors, consumers, pharmaceuticals, cements and E&Ps outperformed the benchmark index amidst positive sector level news flows. The underperformers were banks, fertilisers and foods.
Key highlights of the week were rise in foreign exchange reserves to an all-time high level of $23 billion, release of auto sales numbers by PAMA, up 20 percent YoY in FY16 but down 13 percent in June-2016, upward revision in country''s GDP forecasts to 5.0 percent for FY17 by the International Monetary Fund and POL announcing oil and gas discovery at Makori-East 5.