KARACHI: Pakistan Stock Exchange witnessed mixed trend during the outgoing week ended on October 27, 2023 as the investors opted to book profit on available margins. However, fresh buying in some stocks mainly by local investors supported the market to close on positive note.
The benchmark KSE-100 index increased by 211.97 points on week-on-week basis and closed at 50,943.84 points.
Trading activities however remained low as average daily volumes on ready counter decreased by 9.8 percent to 365.55 million shares during this week as compared to previous week’s average of 405.17 million shares while average daily traded value on ready counter increased by 2.4 percent to Rs 12.81 billion during this week against previous week’s Rs 12.51 billion.
BRIndex100 gained 6.75 points during this week to close at 5,166.79 points with average daily turnover of 324.083 million shares.
BRIndex30 lost 193.07 points on week-on-week basis to close at 18,003.42 points with average daily trading volumes of 211.749 million shares.
The foreign investors remained net sellers of shares worth $3.470 million. Total market capitalization increased by Rs 43 billion during this week to close at Rs 7.422 trillion.
An analyst at JS Global Capital said that the KSE-100 index closed the week at 50,944, gaining 0.4 percent WoW.
Above expected earnings/dividends announcement by BAHL, FCCL, MCB and PABC triggered activity in these stocks. Below expected earnings and dividend announcement by FFC, on the other hand, impacted investor sentiments negatively and led to 3.3 percent WoW decline in the stock’s price.
Auto assemblers announced 2-3 percent cut in car prices during the week to account for the recent appreciation of Pak Rupee.
An analyst at Arif Habib Limited said that the market commenced on a positive note this week driven by the approval of the much anticipated gas tariff hike by the Economic Coordination Committee (ECC), a significant step towards meeting one of the prerequisites for the IMF’s review scheduled to commence on November 02, 2023. Notably, the Current Account deficit for September 2023 was recorded of $8.0 million, down 95 percent on month-on-month basis.
The positive momentum was further bolstered by the results season, which contributed to sustaining a positive trajectory. However, the consistent appreciation of the Pakistani Rupee (PKR) ended, resulting in the PKR closing at PKR 280.57 against the greenback, depreciating by PKR 1.77 or 0.64 percent WoW.
Sector-wise positive contributions came from commercial banks (up 369 points), Cement (up 71 points), Power Generation & Distribution (up 41 points), Leather & Tanneries (up 30 points) and automobile assembler (up 24 points). Meanwhile, the sectors which mainly contributed negatively were fertilizer (down 164 points) and technology & communication (down 102 points).
Foreigner selling was witnessed during this week, clocking in at $3.47 million compared to a net buy of $2.32 million last week. Major selling was witnessed in technology and communication ($4.73 million) and food and personal care products ($0.4 million). On the local front, buying was reported by Companies ($6.4 million) followed by Individuals ($4.2 million).
Copyright Business Recorder, 2023