KARACHI: Pakistan Stock Exchange witnessed positive trend and hit new highest ever level during the week ended on May 24, 2024 on the back of healthy buying by both local and foreign investors coupled with institutional support.
The benchmark KSE-100 index surged by 640.69 points on week-on-week and closed at highest ever level of 75,983.04 points.
Trading activities slightly improved as average daily volumes on ready counter increased by 0.7 percent to 558.19 million shares during this week as compared to previous week’s average of 554.51 million shares however average daily traded value on the ready counter declined by 17.7 percent to Rs 18.04 billion against previous session’s Rs 21.93 billion.
BRIndex100 added 69.30 points during this week to close at 7,940.63 points with average daily turnover of 471.629 million shares.
BRIndex30 gained 52.16 points on week-on-week basis to close at 25,647.78 points with average daily trading volumes of 305.392 million shares.
The foreign investors turned net sellers with cumulative outflow of $12.084 million during this week. Total market capitalization increased by Rs 115 billion during this week to Rs 10.248 trillion.
An analyst at AKD Securities said that the market experienced volatility due to a lack of progress in negotiations between the Pakistani government and the IMF regarding the staff level agreement earlier this week. Despite the talks, both parties denied officially labelling the discussions as negotiations, contributing to uncertainty and fluctuations in the market. However, Friday saw news of progress on a new EFF program emerged, boosting market confidence and leading to the KSE-100 Index achieving its highest-ever closing.
This positive development counteracted previous market volatility, signalling optimism among investors regarding the economic outlook and financial stability.
With regards to sector performance, power generation & distribution, leather & tanneries, tobacco, commercial banks and technology & communication were amongst the top performers, up 8.67 percent/5.67 percent/4.30 percent/3.58 percent/ and 2.98 percent WoW respectively. On the other hand, sugar & allied industries, automobile parts & accessories, transport, modarbas and refinery were amongst the worst performers with a weekly decline of 8.25 percent/7.44 percent/6.61 percent/3.20 percent and 2.50 percent WoW respectively.
Flow wise, major net selling was recorded by foreigners with a net sell of $12.08 million. On the other hand, Banks/DFI absorbed most of the selling with a net buy of $10.44million.
Company-wise, top performers during the week were SCBPL (up 14.8 percent), KEL (up 14.0 percent), NPL (up 11.0 percent), SRVI (up 9.3 percent) and SHFA (up 8.7 percent), while top laggards were THALL (down 8.3 percent), NRL (down 5.8 percent),DAWH (down 5.7 percent),PSEL (down 5.2 percent) and SEARL (down 4.6 percent).
An analyst at JS Global Capital said that the KSE-100 index continued its uptrend this week. The KSE-100 index is up 22 percent during the calendar year 2024 to-date with Banks, Fertilizer and Power sectors being key contributors to the rally.
The stock market reacted positively to the Prime Minister’s meeting with UAE President Mohamed bin Zayed in Abu Dhabi during the week. Sheikh Mohamed assured Pakistan of support and committed to investing $10billion in various sectors.
Throughout the week, Budget and IMF-related news continued to surface. Pakistan’s upcoming Federal Budget for FY25, scheduled for June 07, 2024, sets the stage for what could be the country’s largest IMF program ever.
Copyright Business Recorder, 2024