Staff Reporter Lahore
After shedding 30 points (-0.06 percent) during the last week amid high volatility, mundane trading, uncertainty over Senate polls and low volumes, the Pakistan Stock Exchange (PSX) is likely to remain in green this week as Prime Minister Imran Khan successfully attained vote of confidence from the parliament on Saturday.
Moreover, falling gold prices, stability of Pakistani rupee against the US dollar and increasing prices of crude futures may keep the market green this week.
Gold price in the international market plunged and it was closed at $1,701.10 on Friday as compared to previous week closure at $1,735.60.
International ratings agency Fitch has predicted the price of gold will fall to $1,600 per ounce this year and slide further down to $1,400 in 2022 “on increased demand due to investment flows and central bank purchases.”
Pakistan rupee was appreciated by Re0.98 against the US dollar during the week, while it gained Re1 against the greenback in the previous week. The rupee has gained Rs1.98 against the greenback since February 19.
On the other hand, experts are expecting an uptick in crude prices, which are rallying to the highest level since 2019 after Opec and its allies agreed to roll over existing production cuts until the end of April.
Brent, the marker under which two-thirds of global crude is traded, ended the week at $69.36 per barrel. West Texas Intermediate, which tracks US crude grades, closed at $66.09 per barrel. Both benchmarks are up more than 20 percent over the past month.
The price for Opec Basket was recorded at $62.15 a barrel with 0.29 percent gain and Arab Light was available at $66.64 a barrel after an increase of 4.76 percent.
The benchmark KSE-100 Index closed at 45,837.35 points on Friday last against its closure of 45,865.02 points in the preceding week.
Among other indices, the KSE All Share Index closed at 31,402.02 points against its closure at 31,436.15 points on a week-on-week (WoW) basis. Likewise, the All Share Islamic Index closed at 22,828.53 points against 22,806.72 points on a WoW basis.
The market analysts said that a fresh vote of confidence in the PM and his government is certain to stimulate renewed confidence and optimism in the investment climate.
The benchmark KSE-100 index of Pakistan Stock Exchange (PSX) is currently trading at a PER of 7.1x (2021) compared to Asia Pac regional average of 17.2x and while offering DY of ~6.8 percent versus ~4.8 percent offered by the region.
