Pakistan Stock Exchange witnessed bullish trend during the outgoing week ended on August 23, 2019 on the back of healthy buying in almost all sectors mainly by local investors and institutions. BRIndex100 gained 321.83 points on week-on-week basis to close at 3,287.94 points. Average daily trading volumes stood at 162.385 million shares.
BRIndex30 increased by 1909.58 points to close at 17,067.99 points with average daily turnover of 112.624 million shares. KSE-100 index surged by 2,585.39 points during this week and closed at 31,350.02 points. Trading activities improved significantly as average daily volumes increased by 147.8 percent to 174.41 million shares as compared to previous week''s average of 70.39 million shares. Average daily trading value increased by 97.8 percent to Rs 5.95 billion.
The foreign investors however remained net sellers of equities worth $4.96 million. Total market capitalization increased by Rs 424 billion to Rs 6.340 trillion. An analyst at AKD Securities said after recording heavy losses in the previous weeks due to heightened tensions on geopolitical front, market posted a strong rebound during the outgoing week as tensions slightly eased. Moreover, the rebound can also be termed a dead cat bounce after market observed a decline of 46 percent from its peak of 53000.
Stocks leading the performance board during the week included PIOC (up 23.1 percent), ASTL (up 22.8 percent), GWLC (up 19.8 percent), FCCL (up 18.64 percent) and NML (up 18.5 percent).
An analyst at JS Global Capital said after seven weeks of depressing activity and the market in a continuous downwards spiral, this week came like a breath of fresh air, almost as if the prayers of those investors who went for Hajj pilgrimage were answered.
The market recovered by 9 percent on week-on-week basis (up 2,585 points) to 31,350, whereas average trading volumes jumped to 174m/day, the highest in 3 months.
In the weeks preceding the current one, gloomy news on the economic and political front had been dominating the market sentiment. However, positivity prevailed this week as there was news of the extension of the army chief, followed by rumours of the possibility of positive reviews pertaining to the FATF hearing. One minor hitch was experienced on the last trading day as negative rumours began to circulate regarding the FATF hearing, which were later dispelled by government representatives, but nevertheless took a toll on that day''s trading session and took some of the shine of what has been a fascinating week for market participants.
Among sectors, outperformers were refineries (up 20 percent), engineering (up 21 percent), cements (up 15 percent), E&Ps (up 12 percent), OMCs (up 11 percent) and Autos (up 9 percent).