Bullish trend witnessed

Pakistan Stock Exchange witnessed bullish trend during the outgoing week ended on November 16, 2018 due to selective buying mainly by local investors. BRIndex100 gained 32.8 points on week-on-week basis to close at 4,427.59 points. Average daily volumes stood at 197.544 million shares. BRIndex30 inched up by 85.13 points to close at 23,304.65 points with average daily turnover of 127.958 million shares.
Pakistan''s benchmark KSE-100 index increased by 271.87 points on week-on-week basis and closed at 41,660.75 points. Trading activities, however, remained thin as average daily volumes on ready counter decreased by 8.5 percent to 213.36 million shares as compared to previous week''s average of 233.13 million shares. Average daily trading value increased by 2.1 percent to Rs 9.64 billion.
The foreign investors remained net sellers of shares worth $23.4 million during this week. Total market capitalization increased by Rs 13 billion to Rs 8.235 trillion.
An analyst at AKD Securities said that the KSE-100 Index remained range bound throughout the week touching a low of 40,994 points before closing at 41,661 points (up 0.66 percent). "We witnessed a weak start of the week as uncertainties around the Chinese package and materialization of Saudi package amid IMF negotiations kept investors on the err side of caution," he said. However, bulls mustered strength in the latter part of the week to give a positive close, not giving a not-so-subtle salute to MSCI Review.
To highlight, MSCI on November 14, 2018 announced its semi-annual review where it declassified LUCK and UBL from the Standard Index to Small Cap Index and downgraded HCAR and MLCF from the EM index. Consequent to exclusion of LUCK and UBL, Pakistan''s weight has been reduced to 0.4 percent in the MSCI EM index from 0.7 percent in May 2018.
Top five weekly gainers (AKD Universe) are PIOC (up 17.64 percent), CHCC (up 10.38 percent), PSMC (up 6.99 percent), MCB (up 4.69 percent) and HBL (up 4.16 percent) while the losers (AKD Universe) were PPL (down 2.26 percent), HASCOL (down 2.47 percent), PTC (down 3.08 percent), KEL (down 3.29 percent) and ASTL (down 4.44 percent).
An analyst at JS Global Capital said that the KSE-100 index continued its recent range-bound activity during the week; however, closing amid positive sentiments as the last trading session of the week lent 232 points to the overall 272 point increase. Along with updates on the ongoing meetings between IMF and various government officials, developments on the front of the Prime Minister''s visit to Malaysia and UAE also surfaced, (expected around the third week of this month). Nonetheless, further delays in expected inflows from Saudi Arabia and lack of clarity on potential package from China kept investors lukewarm with participation remaining stagnant as compared to the previous week.
Pressure on international oil prices (down 5.0 percent) dragged the Oil & Gas Exploration sector that declined by 1.2 percent. On the other hand, a declining trend in global coal prices (down 2.1 percent) coupled with the Economic Coordination Committee (ECC) allowing the cement industry to raise prices supported the Cement sector to gain 2.7 percent. Additionally, MSCI Index Semi Annual review for November-2018 was released during the week where Lucky Cement (LUCK, up 3.8 percent) and United Bank (UBL, up 1.8 percent) were relegated to MSCI Small Cap Index and Honda Atlas (HCAR, down 7.4 percent) and Maple Leaf Cement (MLCF, up 2.3 percent) were deleted from MSCI Small Cap Index.