Zubair Yaqoob
Karachi
The market commenced on a positive note this week amid rally in OMC scrips due to rise in petroleum prices last week, followed by increase in international oil prices (leading to upward movement in E&P scrips). Furthermore, approval of Federal Budget 2020-21 in National Assembly, monetary funding worth USD 500mn from World Bank and loan from Chinese Banks of USD 1.3bn led to higher investor sentiment. Moreover, inflation for Jun’20 of 8.59% remained in line with expectations. Besides this, urea offtake surging to 76% MoM in Jun’20 added fuel to the sentiment. Additionally, foreign reserves of SBP jumped up to USD 11.23bn given monetary funds from multilateral institutions last week, after which PKR/USD parity settled at PKR 166.21. The market settled at 35,051 points, gaining 1,112 points (up by 3.3%) WoW. Sector-wise positive contributions came from Commercial (176pts), Cements (170pts), Oil & Gas Exploration Companies (140pts), Fertilizer (136pts) and Technology & Communication (85pts).
