Fresh buying rally, led by oil and gas exploration sector stock, supported the KSE-100 index to close at 13,239.87 points level with a net gain of 157.86 points on Monday. The market witnessed heavy selling pressure in the initial hours and the index hit 12,882.90 points intra-day low level.
The news that petitions against the presidential elections have been dismissed, couple with the increasing oil prices in the international market, invited heavy buying across the board and the index after recovering intra-day losses, finally closed at its intra-day high level of 13,239.87. The KSE-30 index gained 188.89 points to close at 15,725.63 points level.
Trading activities also improved as the ready market volume increased to 176.481 million shares as compared to 139.337 million shares traded on Friday. The futures market turnover surged to 47.338 million shares against 30.620 million shares previously.
The overall market capitalisation surged by Rs 43 billion to Rs 4.047 trillion. Trading took place in 354 scrips, out of which 170 scrips closed in negative and 149 in positive, while the value of 35 scrips remained unchanged.
Oil and Gas Development Company (OGDC) was the star performer of the day with 21.464 million shares and the scrip gained Rs 4.40 to close at Rs 119.25. Pakistan Petroleum Limited (PPL) and Pakistan Oilfields Limited (POL) also performed well and increased by Rs 9.85 and Rs 15.65 to close at Rs 244.35 and Rs 329.40 with total volume of 7.979 million and 7.711 million shares respectively. Attock Refinery gained Rs 4.90 to close at Rs 245.
While TRG Pakistan surged by Rs 0.50 to close at Rs 12.90 with 15.734 million shares, Arif Habib Sec gained Rs 4.45 to close at Rs 157.35, JOV & Co increased by Rs 7.30 to close at Rs 154.05 and Fauji Fertiliser Bin Qasim gained Rs 1.35 to close at Rs 44.65.
Fresh buying was also witnessed in banking sector, as the Bank of Punjab (BoP) and National Bank of Pakistan (NBP) surged by Rs 1.75 and Rs 3.15 to close at Rs 94.20 and Rs 232.80 respectively.
Nestle Pakistan and Jahangir Siddiqui Co were the highest gainers, with Rs 25 and Rs 21.30 gains, to close at Rs 1,825 and Rs 524.90 respectively, while Siemens and Unilever were the highest losers. They lost Rs 96 and Rs 25 to close at Rs 1,824 and Rs 2,420 respectively.
Ahsan Mehanti at Shehzad Chamdia Securities said that the market witnessed selling pressure mainly in banking sector stocks in the early hours, but news that petitions against presidential elections had been dismissed and the election schedule was being announced, invited heavy buying mainly in oil sector stocks.
Increase in oil prices in the international market was another positive sign, which invited buying in relevant stocks. Hasnain Asghar Ali at Aziz Fidahusein Securities said that the hovering clouds of uncertainty never allowed the market participants to have a magnifying view of the changes that occurred over the weekend.
Visit of the US diplomat gave positive indications of a negotiation amongst the political personalities, couple with the change in the formula of per barrel rate on old leases of exploration companies did allow the cautious to accumulate value stocks, he added.
He said absence of turnover, however, kept the market participants on the back foot, thereby leaving no option for the nervous participants but to sell at available rates. Low volume selling, therefore, forced the index to plunge by 319 points (from the initial high), buyers tempted by discounts, however, continued to accumulate on dips, he added.
The news that petitions against the presidential elections have been dismissed, however, benefited the buyers as they turned even more aggressive, led by oil and gas exploration stocks the index displayed a massive recovery, with across the board short covering followed the pursuit allowed the index to gain 385 points (from the day low) to close at 13,239, up by 157 points, extreme movement on both ends allowed the turnover to display an increase of 26 percent as compared to previous session, he opined. Technically, the index will continue to invite support around 13,070-13,077, while over head resistance stayed at 13,457-13,463.