KARACHI: Pakistan Stock Exchange (PSX) witnessed mixed trend during the outgoing week ended on September 10, however fresh buying by local investors in last two days supported the market to close on positive note. BRIndex100 closed at 5,047.92 points, down 41.39 points on week-on-week basis. Average daily volumes stood at 358.591 million shares.
BRIndex100 gained 38.08 points during this week to close at 25,110.36 points with average daily turnover of 195.605 million shares.
KSE-100 index increased by 240.82 points on week-on-week basis and crossed 47,000 psychological levels at 47,198.29 points. Trading activities remained low as average daily volumes on ready counter decreased by 7.1 percent to 428.67 million shares as compared to previous week's average of 461.51 million shares. Average daily traded value however increased by 5.4 percent to Rs 14.54 billion.
The foreign investors remained net sellers with an outflow of $18.6 million during this week, followed by Banks/DFIs with a net sell of $3.76 million while Individuals remained on the buying side with a net buy of $12.86 million. Volume leaders during the week were TPL (174.7 million shares), TELE (154.4 million shares), GGL (124.8 million shares), WTL (120.43 million shares) and ANL (93.5 million shares). Total market capitalization increased by Rs 15 billion to Rs 8.255 trillion.
An analyst at AKD Securities said that the market started the week under pressure as investors awaited MSCI's decision of downgrading Pakistan to Frontier market status from Emerging Market, resulting in selling in some index heavy stocks while additional pressure was mounted on the market due to high trade deficit for August 2021 coupled with depreciating PkR. However on fourth and fifth trading day of the week, market rebounded, led by technology sector and pared up all the losses for the week, with KSE-100 closing at 47,198 points, up 0.51 percent on week-on-week basis.
Cement sector was among the major laggards for the week, losing 2.6 percent on WoW as coal prices continue to trade near 10 year high amid increased demand for power generation in developed economies. Moreover, government providing additional power to officials to monitor and control the prices of fifty categories of product including cement, steel also caused jitters among the investors, resulting in engineering sector losing 2.6 percent during the week. Refinery sector also remained among the laggards as the delay in approval of refinery policy continues to be a drag, however it has been included in the agenda for next week's CCOE's meeting where an approval can be a significant trigger for the sector.
Top performers of the market included PSEL (up 31.3 percent), FABL (up 20.3 percent), AGP (up 15.0 percent), NESTLE (up 12.8 percent) and BNWM (up 8.1 percent). Meanwhile laggards included EPCL (down 13.2 percent), GATI (down 10.7 percent), SCBPL (down 9.8 percent), HCAR (down 9.2 percent) and HGFA (down 7.9 percent).
An analyst at JS Global Capital said that the KSE-100 Index closed on a positive note this week at 47,198 level, gaining 241 points over last Friday.
Market participants remained cautious in the first three trading days over a rising import bill and lack of clarity on the macro-economic front. This was also built upon by MSCI's decision on Wednesday to downgrade Pakistan from Emerging to Frontier market status citing size and liquidity of the Pakistani market as main reasons.
On sector-wise performance, Refineries rebounded this week over news of the Refinery Policy being close to finalization. Cement dispatches for the month of August showed some improvement compared to last month's numbers, while dispatch growth on a YoY basis showed an increase of 23 percent.
Copyright Business Recorder, 2021