KARACHI: Pakistan Stock Exchange witnessed a positive trend during the outgoing week ended August 20, 2021 on the back of fresh buying in various sectors.
BRIndex100 gained 103.54 points on week-on-week basis to close at 5,191.75 points. Average daily trading volumes stood at 225.863 million shares.
BRIndex30 increased by 448.91 points to close at 25,971.57 points with average daily turnover of 137.249 million shares.
The KSE-100 Index surged by 429.98 points on week-on-week basis and closed at 47,599.82 points. Trading activities remained thin as average daily volumes on ready counter decreased by 13.4 percent to 265.67 million shares as compared to previous week's average of 306.70 million shares. Average daily traded value on ready counter stood at Rs 11.56 billion, down 3.6 percent on week-on-week basis.
The foreign investors remained net sellers of shares worth $10.82 million during this week as compared to a net buying of $3.95 million last week. Major selling was witnessed in All Other Sectors ($10.79 million) and Cements ($2.53 million). On the local front, buying was reported by Companies ($7.78 million) followed by Mutual Funds ($5.87 million).Total market capitalization increased by Rs 53 billion to Rs 8.310 trillion.
An analyst at JS Global Capital said that the KSE-100 Index closed the short trading week at the level of 47,600, a gain of 430 points over last week's closing. Regional geopolitics had an influence on the market earlier in the week after Afghan President flew out of the country paving way for Taliban to take control 20 years after a US-led military invasion ousted them. However, the market was quick to more than recuperate the losses.
Cement companies in the South region increased prices by Rs25/bag effective Friday which led to a rally in the sector on the last trading day of the week where FLYING, THCCL, DCL, GWCL and PIOC all closed at their upper circuits on the last trading day of the week.
An analyst at Arif Habib Limited said this week trading activity commenced on a negative note amid geopolitical uncertainty given crisis in Afghanistan and its potential spill over in Pakistan, closure of borders that connects trade activity with Afghanistan and less trading days in the week owed to religious activity. However, trading activity picked pace on the back of peaceful takeover Kabul falls, decline in international commodity prices, reopening of borders with Afghanistan as a result trading activity witnessed a drastic jump and slowdown in Covid19 infection ratio. Contribution to the upside was led by Cements (up 151 points), Commercial Banks (up 86 points), Power Generation and Distribution (up 72 points), Oil and Gas Marketing Companies (up 65 points) and Fertilizer (up 41 points).
Scrip-wise major gainers were MEBL (up 73 points), HUBC (up 62 points), PSO (up 57 points), DGKC (up 40 points) and MLCF (up 36 points). Whereas, scrip-wise major losers were PPL (down 18 points), KTML (down 16 points), NESTLE (down 11 points), PSEL (down 11 points) and MARI (down 10 points).
Copyright Business Recorder, 2021