Pakistan Stock Exchange witnessed bullish trend during the outgoing week ended on February 1, 2019 on the back of both local and foreign investors support. BRIndex100 gained 96.01 points on week-on-week basis to close at 4,379.03 points. Average daily volumes stood at 158.874 million shares.
BRIndex30 increased by 610.37 points to close at 23,093.19 points with average daily turnover of 109.142 million shares. KSE-100 index surged by 847.93 points on week-on-week basis and closed at 41,112.71 points. Trading activities also improved as average daily volumes on ready counter increased by 3.8 percent to 174.84 million shares as compared to previous week''s average of 168.45 million shares. Average daily trading value however declined by 6.1 percent to Rs 6.84 billion.
The foreign investors remained net buyers of equities worth $12.3 million during this week. Total market capitalization increased by Rs 119 billion to Rs 8.170 trillion. An analyst at AKD Securities said that the KSE-100 index witnessed dull sessions in the last week of January 2019, with monetary announcement of 25bps hike pulling-up KSE-100 index (up 0.8 percent on Friday) to close at 41,112.7 points, up 2.1 percent on week-on-week basis. Budget developments continue to favorably impact the auto sector, where PSMC/INDU gained 27.6 percent/3.1 percent on abolishment of ban on non-filers in the below 1300CC segment.
Foreigners continue to find market attractive with weekly inflow of $12.3 million, with activity concentrated in Banks ($7.68 million), E&P ($1.65 million) and Cements ($1.28 million). On the flipside, mutual funds opted for profit taking disposing off $5.33 million, followed by Banks, $2.99 million.
Major upward movers in AKD universe were PSMC (up 27.6 percent), HASCOL (up 11.4 percent), ASTL (up 8.36 percent), EFOODS (up 7.43 percent) and PSO (up 5.77 percent), whereas laggards were FFBL (down 5.65 percent), FATIMA (down 1.42 percent), POL (down 0.46 percent), FFC (down 0.38 percent) and NBP (down 0.25 percent).
An analyst at JS Global Capital said that the KSE-100 index continued going north with 2.1 percent gains, closing this week at 41,113 levels. By the end of the first month of the year, the benchmark index has more than recovered losses (down 8.4 percent) made during CY18. The index has now witnessed five consecutive weeks of positive closing. Key drivers to the ongoing rally have been the reform package announcement and funding receipts from Saudi Arabia and the UAE.
With the recent fund receipts, the State Bank of Pakistan''s reserves have jumped up to $8.15 billion, up $1.5 billion in a week. Moreover, the Monetary Policy Committee announced the Policy Rate for the next two months at 10.25 percent, reflecting an increase of 25bps.