Slight upward correction witnessed

Pakistan Stock Exchange (PSX) witnessed positive trend during the outgoing week ended on July 21, 2017 on the back of fresh buying mainly by local investors. The benchmark KSE-100 index increased by 956.95 points or 2.16 percent on week-on-week basis and closed at 45,294.39 points. Trading activities however remained low as average daily volumes on ready counter decreased by 23.3 percent to 133.94 million shares as compared to previous week's average of 174.66 million shares. Average daily trading value declined by 22.4 percent to Rs 7.54 billion.
The foreign investors remained net sellers of shares worth $2.008 million during the outgoing week. Total market capitalization increased by Rs 199 billion to Rs 9.308 trillion.
An analyst at AKD Securities said that the volatility remained high with news flows emanating from Panama case hearing guiding market accordingly. In tandem, the prevailing political noise kept investors at bay with average daily turnover during the week going down by 23 on week-on-week basis. Scrips leading the bourse during the week were APL (up 9.06 percent), HASCOL (up 7.39 percent), OGDC (up 5.45 percent), POL (up 5.02 percent) and CHCC (up 4.50 percent), while laggards included PIOC (down 3.80 percent), MLCF (down 3.65 percent), KEL (down 2.58 percent), FFBL (down 1.50 percent) and ENGRO (down 1.21 percent).
An analyst at JS Global Capital said that the outgoing weak witnessed a slight upward correction at the local bourse following a selling rampage over the last few weeks as value buyers jumped in to take positions ahead of the corporate results season, though most investors still remain sidelined from the market amidst political uncertainty. Amongst the key sectors, Oil & Gas exploration (up 5.0 percent), Autos (up 5.0 percent) and OMCs (up 4.0 percent) were top gainers, whereas Textile weaving (down 5.0 percent), Power generation (down 1.0 percent) and Chemicals (down 1.0 percent) lagged behind.
An analyst at Arif Habib Limited said that the KSE-100 index displayed a return of 2.2 percent this week. While the week was marked with choppy trading, some domestic investors took a brave step to accumulate scrips with attractive valuations as the Supreme Court wrapped up hearing of the Panama Case. Although the decision has been reserved, wild speculation during the week with respect to outcome of the legal proceeding resulted in the equity bourse depicting a volatile trajectory. With that said, upside to the index was led by Oil & Gas Exploration Companies (up 269 points) amid slight recovery in oil prices mid-week; Commercial Banks (up 201 points) with UBL at the top of the charts (plus 68 points); Oil & Gas Marketing Companies (up 126 points); Automobile Assembler (up 47 points) and Refinery (up 37 points).