KARACHI: After gaining as much as 34.8 percent during first seven months of FY21, Pakistan equities took a well-deserved breather in February 2021. At the close of the short, yet volatile month, the KSE-100 Index stood at a loss of 1.1 percent.

Despite this drop, the market remains north of the 43,000 barrier that had limited upside since 2017 which is reassuring at the very least, in our view. “We feel obligated to highlight here that the index has gained 4.8 percent from the latest December closing while gains during the first eight months of FY21 have clocked in at 33.2 percent,” an analyst at JS Global Capital said.

“Despite the index losing 521 points loss during February 2021, we find that some sideboard sectors have continued to perform remarkably and provided due support to the index,” he added. Refineries (up 16 percent), Auto Parts (up 13 percent), Cements (up 12 percent) and Technology (up 7 percent) have continued to post remarkable gains during the month. On the other hand the index-heavy Commercial Banks posted a loss of 7.2 percent while E&Ps inched up merely 1.0 percent during the month.

“Looking at flows, we find that individuals and companies have been the largest investors during the first eight months of FY21 with net buying of $237 million and $128 million respectively, a trend visible in February 2021 as well,” he said.

Interestingly, Overseas Pakistanis have also jumped on the bandwagon, posting net buying of $11 million during February 2021 after cumulative net selling of $22 million during the first seven months of FY21.

On the other hand, Insurance Companies and Foreign Corporations have been net sellers of $18 million each during the latest month.

Copyright Business Recorder, 2021