KARACHI: Despite foreign selling and confusion over the settlement of energy sector circular debt issue, Pakistan Stock Exchange managed to close on positive note during the outgoing week ended on January 26, 2024.
The benchmark KSE-100 index increased by 530.83 points on week-on-week basis and closed at 63,813.06 points.
Trading activities also improved as average daily volumes on ready counter increased by 6.9 percent to 415.58 million shares during this week as compared to previous week’s average of 388.80 million shares while average daily traded value on the ready counter increased by 47.3 percent to Rs 20.29 billion during this week against previous week’s Rs 13.77 billion.
BRIndex100 gained 60.73 points during this week to close at 6,549.02 points with average daily turnover of 375.205 million shares.
BRIndex30 added 176.62 points on week-on-week basis to close at 23,140.51 points with average daily trading volumes of 301.775 million shares.
The foreign investors however remained on the selling sides and withdrew $22.706 million from the local equity market during this week. Total market capitalization increased by Rs 94 billion during this week to Rs 9.359 trillion.
An analyst at AKD Securities said that the week commenced on a positive note, riding the wave of optimism generated by the IMF’s favourable review report released over the weekend. Following this upbeat start, the E&P Sector took centre stage over developments on clearance of circular debt amounting to Rs 1.2trillion. However, as the week drew to a close, conflicting narratives emerged, creating uncertainty around the viability of the circular debt plan. News reports, citing insiders, presented divergent stories—one suggesting the imminent presentation of the plan to the IMF and another reporting objections raised by the Finance Ministry.
This uncertainty contributed to corrections observed in the last two trading days, with the likelihood of rate cuts diminishing.
Sector-wise, Textile Composite, E&P, and Leather & Tanneries companies were amongst the top performers, up 7.7 percent/5.6 percent/3.7 percent respectively. On the other hand, Automobile Parts & Accessories, Transport, and Property were amongst the worst performers with a decline of 10.0 percent/7.4 percent/4.9 percent.
Flow-wise, major net selling was recorded by Foreigners with a net sell of $22.7million. On the other hand, Insurance absorbed most of the selling with a net buy of $9.6million.
Company-wise, top performers during the week were OGDC (up 13.8 percent), ATLH (up 10.5 percent), APL (up 9.8 percent), LCI (up 9.4 percent) and HMB (up 7.8 percent), while top laggards were HCAR (down 17.6 percent), PTC (down 10.3 percent), GADT (down 6.7 percent), JVDC (down 6.6 percent) and PIBTL (down 6.2 percent).
An analyst at JS Global Capital said that the KSE-100 reported 0.8 percent WoW gains during the week closing at 63,813.
From the equity market perspective, news-flow regarding Energy Sector circular debt remained in the limelight. Media reports suggest that SIFC is directed to approach IMF for approval of Rs1.27trillion circular debt, indicating Rs556billion payment to OGDC, Rs126billion to PPL and Rs29billion to PSO.
With an expectation of hefty dividend payouts from E&Ps led to run-up in the respective stock prices. Political environment remained heated with aggressive election campaigns and public appearances by key political leaders across the country.
Copyright Business Recorder, 2024