KARACHI: Pakistan Stock Exchange performed extremely well and hit historic highest ever levels during the outgoing week ended on October 25, 2024 on the back of aggressive buying mainly by local investors coupled with institutional support.

The benchmark KSE-100 index surged by massive 4,743.88 points on week-on-week basis and closed at its highest level in its history at 89,993.97 points. During the week, the index crossed historic 90,000 points psychological level however failed to sustain this level due to profit taking in some stocks.

Trading activities also improved as average daily volumes on ready counter increased by 51.5 percent to 669.93 million shares during this week as compared to previous week’s average of 442.26 million shares while average daily traded value on the ready counter increased by 29.6 percent to Rs 29.09 billion during this week against previous week’s Rs 22.44 billion.

BRIndex100 soared by 556.91 points during this week to close at 9,653.93 points with average daily turnover of 579.921 million shares.

BRIndex30 increased by 1,520.54 points on week-on-week basis to close at 28,713.18 points with average daily trading volumes of 402.566 million shares.

The foreign investors however remained on the selling side and withdrew $16.355 million from the local equity market. Total market capitalization increased by Rs 512 billion during this week to Rs 11.689 trillion.

An analyst at AKD Securities said that the market remained strong throughout the week, with KSE-100 index reaching its highest-ever level, closing at 89,994points, up by 5.6 percent WoW.

This marked the highest weekly return in 27 weeks and 47th highest weekly return since the index’s inception. More importantly, KSE-30 index (price index) also reached all-time high at 28,395points.

The week started with positive momentum buoyed with settlement of political noise following the passage of stalled 26th Constitutional Amendment. Additionally, optimism extended with swing of corporate result announcements and favourable economic developments.

The rally was broad-based, with 80 out of 100 companies delivering positive returns. Leading sectors were Fertilizer, Cement, and Banks, contributing 1,312, 929, and 847points to the index, respectively, primarily due to strong annual growth in company results.

Sector-wise, cement, refinery, and mutual funds were amongst the top performers, up 18.3 percent/9.4 percent/8.7 percent, respectively. On the other hand, Modarabas, textile composites, and vanaspati & allied industries were amongst the worst performers with a decline of 12.0 percent/9.5 percent/5.0 percent.

Flow wise, major net selling was recorded by Foreigners with a net sell of $16.4million. On the other hand, mutual funds and Other Organisations absorbed most of the selling with a net buy of $12.1/8.3 million, respectively.

Company-wise, top performers during the week were KOHC (up 30.1 percent), CHCC (up 29.8 percent), AICL (up 26.4 percent), KEL (up 23.5 percent) and ATRL (up 21.1 percent), while top laggards were ILP (down 13.3 percent), PIBTL (down 11.0 percent), LOTCHEM (down 5.3 percent), IBFL (down 3.7 percent) and NESTLE (down 3.4 percent).

An analyst at JS Global Capital said that the KSE-100 index remained bullish during the week, closing at 89,994, a significant increase of 5.6 percent WoW.

The week began with the passing of the 26th Constitutional Amendment Bill in the National Assembly, securing a 2/3rd majority, followed by the nomination of Justice Yahya Afridi as the next Chief Justice of Pakistan.

Pakistan reported a current account surplus for the second consecutive month in September 2024, amounting to $119million. Net FDI for the first quarter of FY25 rose by $251million (up 48 percent YoY), totalling $771 million.

Pakistan has also formally requested $1.0 billion from the IMF as part of the climate financing fund. Additionally, discussions are underway with the Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank (AIIB) for credit enhancement for the planned Panda Bond, with an initial issue of up to $250 million.

Copyright Business Recorder, 2024