Zubair Yaqoob
Karachi
This past week, the benchmark equity bourse (KSE-100) sustained the 33K level and exhibited gains on 5 out of 5 trading sessions (this has happened after 26 weeks).
Reasons for the positive sentiment include: Softening of lockdown announced by federal and provincial governments helped to increase domestic business activity including opening of industries, Pakistan weight in MSCI EM index remained unchanged, Government announced construction of Diamer-Bhasha Dam that will generate demand for Cement and Steel, and Expectation of further rate cut improved activity in highly levered stocks. However, Commercial Banks felt the heat on account of expectation of further rate cut which may stress profitability of the banking sector. As a result, the KSE-100 index closed at 34,008pts, up by 741pts or 2.2% WoW.
Contribution to the upside was led by Oil and Gas Exploration Companies (192pts), Cements (177pts), Fertilizer (148pts), Food and Personal Care Products (61pts), and Technology and Communication (57pts). Scrip wise major gainers were FFC (74pts), MARI (73pts), LUCK (66pts), NESTLE (59pts), and OGDC (56pts). Whereas, scrip wise major losers were BAHL (40pts), SNGP (35pts) ABL (20pts), INDU (17pts) and PAKT (14pts). Foreigners offloaded stocks worth of USD 10.91mn compared to a net sell of USD 17.82mn last week. Major selling was witnessed in Commercial Banks (USD 2.89mn) and Power Generation and Distribution (USD 2.40mn). On the local front, buying was reported by Individuals (USD 5.56mn) followed by Mutual Funds (USD 4.97mn).
That said, average daily volumes for the outgoing week were up by 15% to 219mn shares whereas value traded decreased by 13% to USD 40.3mn.