Pakistan Stock Exchange witnessed bullish trend during the outgoing week ended November 2, 2018 on the back of healthy buying in various sectors. BRIndex100 gained 164.46 points on week-on-week basis to close at 4,476.62 points. Average daily volumes stood at 302.220 million shares.
BRIndex30 increased by 792.63 points to close at 23503.98 points with average daily turnover of 227.630 million shares. Pakistan's benchmark KSE-100 index surged by 1447.64 points on week-on-week basis and closed at 42,004.09 points. Trading activities also improved as average daily volumes on ready counter increased by 7.1 percent to 322.32 million shares as compared to previous week's average of 301.03 million shares. Average daily trading value increased by 26.0 percent to Rs 12.62 billion.
The foreign investors remained net sellers of shares worth $12.62 million. Total market capitalization increased by Rs 221 billion to Rs 8.388 trillion. An analyst at AKD Securities said that the KSE-100 index had a jubilant start to the week, gaining 897 points on the first trading day followed by subsequent positive moves to close the week at 42,004.1 points, up 3.57 percent on week-on-week basis. Investors anticipated support packages from China and UAE as well, while giving little regard to the on-going country-wide protests by the religious groups.
The cement sector scrips grabbed 4 of the 5 top gainers' list in the AKD universe including MLCF (up 26.6 percent), DGKC (up 22.8 percent), CHCC (up 21.0 percent), NCL (up 19.0 percent) and PIOC (up 15.8 percent). An analyst at JS Global Capital said that the benchmark KSE-100 index hummed along on its merry way, climbing 3.6 percent or 1,448 points to 42,004 level, building on the momentum gained from the previous two weeks.
To put things in perspective, the market has cumulatively gained 15 percent since October 16, 2018, as news flows pertaining to the Saudi loan package lifted investor sentiment and provided clarity regarding the balance of payments (BoP) situation. As per latest news, the Prime Minister is in Beijing at the moment, where further positive developments are anticipated in lieu of BoP support and other potential favourable concessions. Moreover, talks with IMF are scheduled for next week. On sector-wise development, global crude oil prices declined by 6 percent, leading to 2 percent decline in the E&P sector.
Moreover, Cements and Automobiles continued their recent rally, up 10 percent and 5 percent respectively owing to their preceding overcorrection. Pharmaceuticals also outperformed the benchmark index with gains of 11 percent on anticipation of a higher CPI reading this month, which was announced at the end of the week, given that medicine price increases have been linked to the CPI. In anticipation of a potential interest rate hike later this month, given higher inflationary readings, Banks also rallied on this news, ending 4 percent higher.