KARACHI: Pakistan Stock Exchange remained volatile during the outgoing week ended on April 07, 2023 on investor concerns over prevailing political and economic situation in the country,
The benchmark KSE-100 index closed at 40,049.65 points, up 48.82 points on week-on-week basis.
Average daily trading volumes on ready counter slightly increased by 19.4 percent to 110.18 million shares during this week as compared to previous week’s average of 92.28 million shares while average daily traded value on ready counter declined by 13.2 percent to Rs 2.94 billion against previous week’s Rs 3.39 billion.
BRIndex100 gained 19.76 points during this week to close at 4,075.82 points with average daily turnover of 93.890 million shares.
BRIndex30 increased by 238.00 points on week-on-week basis to close at 14,604.90 points with average daily trading volumes of 71.783 million shares.
Total market capitalization declined by Rs 15 billion to Rs 6.093 trillion.
An analyst at AKD Securities said that the market remained volatile over the course of the week owing to the economic uncertainty, further exacerbated by political tension that persisted throughout the week within the country.
However, the market showed some resistance, and moved into positive territory come Wednesday when the SBP hiked rates by lesser than expectations, raising it by 100bps to 21 percent, while market expectations were for a 200bps increase.
Additionally, news flows of a Saudi Arabia assurance of $2 billion primarily helped boost investors’ confidence. Meanwhile, the news of the cancellation of a finance ministry’s earlier planned visit to the USA for IMF and World Bank spring meetings, once again shattered investor confidence, resulting in the market closing in the red on the last trading session.
Sector-wise, Modarabas, Woollen, and Miscellaneous were amongst the top performers, up 4.1 percent/3.8 percent/3.2 percent on WoW respectively. On the other hand, Tobacco, Leather & Tanneries, and Close-end Mutual Funds were amongst the worst performers with a decline of 11.6 percent/7.3 percent/4.6 percent on WoW.
Flow wise, major net selling was recorded by Insurance companies with a net sell of $4.8million. On the other hand, Individuals absorbed most of the selling with a net buy of $2.7million.
Company-wise, top performers during the week were SML (up 7.2 percent), PSEL (up 6.1 percent), FATIMA (up 5.9 percent), EPCL (up 5.8 percent) and BNWM (up 3.8 percent), while top laggards were PAKT (down 10.1 percent), MUREB (down 8.5 percent), AIRLINK (down 6.6 percent), EFUG (down 6.3 percent) and HCAR (down 6.0 percent).
An analyst at JS Global Capital said that the market remained stable WoW closing at 40,050 points owing to the prolonged delay in the IMF program. This comes despite some clarity on the political front as ECP following orders from the Supreme Court announced elections in Punjab on 14th May-23.
Sector-wise, Oil & Gas sector (up 1.2 percent) emerged as the top performer following news of crude oil production cuts by the OPEC countries. Tobacco Sector (down 11.6 percent) on the other hand was among key under-performers. Foreigners turned net buyers this week showing interest in the oil & gas sector.
Copyright Business Recorder, 2023