Pakistan stocks end 0.63pc up with financial; oil shares rising

Pakistan shares’ market continued bullish rally for the fourth consecutive session on Friday led by banking sector amid better quarter earnings, dealers said.

Analyst Ahsan Mehanti of Arif Habib Corp said bullish activity witnessed due to the ongoing earning season at the PSX and stock prices of energy, fertilizers and financial firms increased on strong earning annucements, while a surge in the world crude prices above $46 per barrel also helped supprt the buying sentiments.

Analysts said the World Bank’s postive words on the country’s economic stability and progress invited institutional interest in the banking stocks.

The Pakistan Stock Exchange's (PSX) benchmark KSE 100-share Index closed up 0.63 percent or 215.65 points to 34,719.29 points.

The highest index level of the day was 34,881.67 points while the lowest level of the day was recorded at 34,457.85 points. KSE-30 Index also gained 0.91 percent or 183.03 points to close at 20,205.61 points.

Turnover, however, fell 16 million shares to 254.72 million shares, trading value decreased to Rs13.33 billion against Rs14.54 billion, while market capital increased to Rs7.20 trillion against Rs7.16 trillion recorded in the last session. Of a total of 364 companies’ active in the session, 153 recorded in green, 197 in red while 14 remained unchanged. Analysts said quarterly results dominated activity at the bourse during the week.

“Moreover, activity was also seen in index heavyweight stocks like oil and gas exploration, which attracted attention on the back of rise in global oil prices, and select banking sector stocks,” a post market report of Topline Securities said.

The biggest contributor towards rally were commercial banks with HBL (up 5.00 percent), MCB (up 4.85 percent) and UBL (up 2.26 percent) contributed 225 points in the index.  “These three stocks grabbed investor’s attention over a possible inclusion in the MSCI EM index,” said one analyst at the Global Research. 

Fauji Fertilizer (up 1.46 percent) and FFBL (up 4.43 percent) contributed 34 points towards the KSE-100 as these stock will likely emerge as the biggest beneficiary of the cheaper gas after OGRA announced a reversal in feed gas prices to September 2015 levels.  

Highest increase was recorded in shares of Philip Morris Pak, which rose by Rs70.57 to Rs1,745.47/share, followed by Pak Tobacco XD that increased by Rs62.35 to Rs1,309.35/share.

Major decline was noted in shares of Sapphire Textile, which fell by Rs38.32 to Rs728.18/share, followed by Indus Dyeing that decreased by Rs33.25 to Rs631.75/share. 

Significant turnover was recorded in the stocks of Bank of Punjab, Sui Northern Gas Pipeline Limited (SNGPL), Pak Elektron, Fauji Fertilizer Bin Qasim Limited, Bank Al-Falah, Dewan Motors, TRG Pak Ltd, Fatima Fertilizer, Byco Petroleum and Faysal Bank.

Bank of Punjab remained the volume leader with 20.41 million shares with an increase of 28 paisas to Rs9.21/share. It was followed by SNGPL with 15.55 million shares with an increase of 43 paisas to Rs33.44 /share.  Shares’ turnover in the future contracts rose to 92.01 million shares from 77.13 million shares traded in the previous session.