KARACHI: Pakistan Stock Exchange witnessed positive trend and recorded healthy gains during the outgoing week ended on January 17, 2025 on the back of fresh buying mainly local investors coupled with institutional support.
The benchmark KSE-100 index surged by 2,024.79 points on week-on-week basis and closed at 115,272.08 points.
Trading activities however remained low as average daily volumes on ready counter declined by 28.6 percent to 557.83 million shares during this week as compared to previous week’s average of 781.51 million shares while average daily traded value on the ready counter increased by 1.1 percent to Rs 32.28 billion during this week against previous week’s Rs 31.92 billion.
BRIndex100 soared by 347.85 points during this week to close at 12,144.60 points with average daily turnover of 479.944 million shares.
BRIndex30 increased by 1,103.68 points on week-on-week basis to close at 37,201.42 points with average daily trading volumes of 340.405 million shares.
The foreign investors however remained on the selling side and withdrew $9.721 million from the local equity market. Total market capitalization increased by Rs 14 billion to Rs 14.244 trillion.
An analyst at AKD Securities said that the market remained volatile during the week due to political uncertainty surrounding the announcement of the graft case involving Ex-PM. However, following the verdict’s announcement on Friday, market regained momentum, with the benchmark KSE100 posting a gain of 2,025points, or 1.8 percent WoW, closing at 115,272points.
Overall, banks, power, and pharma sectors were the primary contributors to the weekly index rally, adding 622, 357, and 320points, respectively.
On the macro front, Pakistan’s current account for Dec’24 recorded a surplus of $582million, driven by 9.0 percent YoY increase in remittances. This brings the 1HFY25 current account to a surplus of $1.2billion, compared to a deficit of $1.4billion in the same period last year. Additionally, power sector’s circular debt decreased by 11 percent YoY in Nov’24, falling to Rs 2.38trillion, and the continuation of this trend is expected to improve the cash-flow situation for the country’s energy sector.
Moreover, with easing prices of seasonal perishable food items, weekly inflation (SPI) fell to a 7-year low of 1.2 percent YoY.
Sector-wise, Refinery, Pharmaceuticals, and Power generation & Distribution were amongst the top performers, up 9.6 percent/8.1 percent/4.2 percent WoW. On the other hand, Jute, Leasing Companies, and Sugar sectors reported decline of 6.4 percent/3.8 percent/2.6 percent WoW, respectively.
Flow wise, major net selling was recorded by Foreigners and Mutual Funds with a net sell of $8.7 million and 7.0million, respectively. On the other hand, Individuals and Companies absorbed most of the selling with a net buy of $12.8 million and 8.5million, respectively.
Company-wise, top performers during the week were SEARL (up 12.6 percent), GLAXO (up 11.7 percent), ATRL (up 10.8 percent), NRL (up 10.4 percent) and PSEL (up 9.4 percent), while top laggards were ENGROH (down 12.7 percent), PABC (down 8.4 percent), JDWS (down 8.1 percent), AKBL (down 5.0 percent) and PGLC (down 4.6 percent).
An analyst at JS Global Capital said that the KSE-100 experienced mixed trends during the week closing at 113,247 points, up 2.0WoW.
During the week, current account balance arrived at a surplus of $582million for Dec-2024, taking 1HFY25 surplus to $1.2 billion, mainly led by higher remittances and controlled trade deficit. Further, the UAE confirmed the rollover amounting to $2.0 billion for another year, maturing in Jan-2025.
Pakistan is also preparing to launch panda bonds with an initial offering target of $200-250million, aiming to support external financing further. Additionally, the World Bank has pledged to provide $40billion to Pakistan over the next ten years under the Country Partnership Framework (CPF).
In the recent PIB auction, the government raised Rs385billion against a target of Rs350billion, with yields dropping by 19 to 61 bps varying between different tenures.
Copyright Business Recorder, 2025