Pakistan Stock Exchange witnessed mix trend during the outgoing week ended September 22, 2017. BRIndex 100 closed at 4,668.70 points, up 0.97 points or from last week's closing of 4,667.73 points. Average daily volumes stood at 154.333 million shares. BRIndex 30 gained 73.72 points to close at 22,947.44 points with average daily volumes of 105.732 million shares.
Pakistan benchmark KSE-100 index lost 36.99 points to close at 42,750.20 points. Trading activities on the ready counter slightly improved as average daily volumes increased by 8.6 percent to 170.62 million shares as compared to previous week's average of 157.13 million shares. Average daily trading value increased by 3.5 percent to Rs 8.98 billion. The foreign investors remained net buyers of shares worth $0.377 million against a net inflow of $27.7 million recorded during previous week. Total market capitalization increased by Rs 5 billion to Rs 8.883 trillion.
An analyst at AKD Securities said that the KSE-100 index ended flat during the week, losing 37 points or 0.1 percent to close at 42,750. Domestic politics continued to direct market sentiments where LHC's order to make the Model Town report public created pressure. Performance leaders during the week were FFC (7.12 percent), ABL (4.65 percent), MCB (4.42 percent), UBL (3.83 percent) and EFERT (3.38 percent); while laggards included HBL (down 5.37 percent), EFOODS (down 4.40 percent), LUCK (down 3.51 percent), PIOC (down 2.61 percent) and DGKC (down 1.93 percent). An analyst at JS Global Capital said that the positive momentum from last week helped the market record gains during the first three trading days aided by news of US and Pakistan agreeing to resume bilateral talks; however, the bourse failed to sustain the rally as profit taking was witnessed on Thursday over news that the Lahore High Court has ordered the Punjab government to make the Model Town incident report public. There were also media reports circulating during the week that the finance minister has decided to step down from his position. This all coincided with strong technical resistance of the benchmark KSE-100 index at around 43,500, with the index finally closing at 42,750, down 0.1 percent on week-on-week basis). Key sectors that outperformed were Refineries (up 4 percent) and Fertilisers (up 3 percent), whereas sectors that underperformed were Cements (down 3 percent) and Oil & Gas Exploration (down 1 percent). Key buyers were Banks/DFIs with net buying of $2.6 million.
An analyst at Arif Habib Limited said that for the former three days this week, the benchmark KSE-100 index portrayed a continuation of the positive momentum that was witnessed in the prior week, on the back of foreign buying. However, on Thursday and Friday the gains were offset when the market lost 597 points cumulatively primarily on account political uncertainty led by Lahore High Court's order to make the Model Town incident inquiry public coupled with bail able warrants issued against the finance minister. He said the market closed at 42,750 points this week depicting a decline of 37 points. The index saw negative contributions from Banks (100 points) and Cements (91 points). Pressure to the downside was led by HBL (negative contribution of 153 points) on account of a downgrade in its rating by Moody's, LUCK (55 points) and MEBL (48 points). The positive contributions were driven mainly by Fertilisers (148 points) and Food & Personal Care Products (32 points). On scrip wise basis, positive contributions to the bourse came from DAWH (72 points), MCB (70 points) and FFC (59 points). Foreign buying was recorded at $0.4 million (primarily in Fertilisers) during this week. On the domestic front, net selling was led by mutual funds worth of $4.5 million and $3.3 million by brokers.