KARACHI: Pakistan Stock Exchange remained under pressure during the outgoing week ended on Nov 13, due to selling by both local and foreign investors.
BRIndex100 lost 34.84 points on week-on-week basis to close at 4,192.88 points. Average daily trading volumes stood at 259.257 million shares.
BRIndex30 decreased by 282.72 points to close at 21,204.39 points with average daily turnover of 155.319 million shares.
KSE-100 index declined by 162.26 points on week-on-week basis and closed at 40,569.35 points. Trading activities remained low as average daily volumes on ready counter decreased by 21.3 percent to 289.69 million shares as compared to previous week's average of 368.24 million shares. Average daily trading value declined by 16.5 percent to Rs 10.51 billion.
The foreign investors also remained on the selling side and withdrew $7.361 million from Pakistan capital market. Total market capitalization declined by Rs 71billion to Rs7.465 trillion.
An analyst at AKD Securities said the KSE-100's sentiment remained mixed during the outgoing week on the back of positive developments globally being offset increasing Covid-19 cases locally.
Starting the week with clarity over US elections, index showed strength in the initial hours of first trading session however gains were later pared on the back of alarming increase in Covid-19 positivity ratio (standing around 5 percent currently). Pfizer's announcement of its vaccine being 90 percent effective instilled euphoria in international markets and KSE-100 followed with an increase of 369 points during second trading session of the week however once again alarming increase in Covid-19 cases turned out to be a dampener with KSE-100 decreasing by 633 points during fourth session. Consequently, KSE-100 closed the week at 40,569, down 0.4 percent on week-on-week basis.
During the week, Oil & Gas Exploration remained among the top performers (up 2.2 percent) as oil prices rebounded on the back of Pfizer's vaccine announcement and significant drawdown of inventories. Cement sector remained among the laggards (down 3.9 percent) as market reacted to increasing coal prices and decrease in dispatches during the ongoing month.
Top performers during the week were SYS (up 15.2 percent), SFL (up 13.4 percent), COLG (up 6.8 percent), GHGL (up 4.8 percent) and GLAXO (up 4.6 percent) whereas laggards were FFBL (down 16.7 percent), SNGP (down 15.3 percent), HCAR (down 8.1 percent), SSGC (down 8.0 percent) and PSMC (down 7.3 percent).
An analyst at JS Global Capital said despite global markets celebrating victory of Joe Biden and announcement of Pfizer Inc's experimental Covid-19 vaccine's high efficacy, the local bourse declined 162 points during the week to close 0.4 percent lower at 40,569. Key reason of decline during the week was pessimism led by increasing Covid-19 cases by the day in the country.
On sector-wise performance, where rise in international commodity prices led to higher coal prices, putting Cement (down 3.9 percent) under pressure; higher crude oil prices led to Oil and Gas Exploration Companies (up 2.2 percent) ranking among one of the highest gainers this week.
Sui Northern Gas Pipelines Limited (SNGP) was one of the worst performing stocks this week over key development where Oil and Gas Regulatory Authority (OGRA) significantly reduced the company's Unaccounted for Gas (UFG) on RLNG.
Copyright Business Recorder, 2020