Stocks cheer grey-list status quo, buzz-beating results

By Our Correspondent
October 27, 2020

Stocks on Monday rallied after FATF’s decision to maintain Pakistan’s grey-list status quo gave relieved investors a good reason to reenter the market, while some consensus-beating financial results also added to the cheer-factor of the buying party, dealers said.

Advertisement

Pakistan Stock Exchange (PSX) benchmark KSE-100 shares index gained 1.42 percent or 584.47 points to close at 41,850.47 points, while volumes increased to 487.158 million shares from 354.430 million in the previous session. KSE-30 shares index followed suit with a high of 1.23 percent or 213.35 points to end at 17,594.63 points level.

Muhammad Saeed Khalid, head of research at Shajar Capital, said, “The market remained robust after FATF decided to keep Pakistan in its grey list, marking an intraday high of 580 points”.

A A Soomro, managing director at KASB Securities, said, “Elated by strong performance of cements, technology & engineering, the index continued the upward momentum in the result reason,” he said.

"Primary optimism escalated after Pakistan successfully completed 21 out of 27 FATF tasks with encouraging comments from the president of the anti terror financing and money laundering watchdog,” Soomro said.

Trading activity was recorded in 430 active scrips, of which 307 increased, 105 lost, and 18 remained unchanged.

Tahir Abbas, director research at Arif Habib Ltd, said, “Quarterly results from the listed companies showing significant growth and some sectors profitability beating market expectations and recovery are being termed positive for the market”.

“Quarterly numbers have been well received as companies’ performance has been healthy in the post COVID19 period because previous quarter squeezed the sales owing to lockdown,” Abbas added.

Yousuf Saeed, director research at Darson Securities, said, “The investors resorted to heavy buying in the consequence of clarity on FATF front, rupee appreciation vs dollar and a downtick in weekly SPI reading helped boost the sentiment”.

“KSE-100 index hit intraday high of 41,876.79 points levels and concluded the day at 41,850.47 levels,” Saeed added. Faisal Shaji, strategist at Standard Capital, said, “KSE-100 closed in bullish zone as investors heaved a sigh of relief on FATF plenary results on Pakistan”. “It seems market is bracing for another bullish turn given the reploughing of dividend amounts by investors,” Shaji added.

Analyst Ahsan Mehanti from Arif Habib Corporation said, “Stocks showed sharp recovery led by scrips across the board as investors cheered FATF decision on Pakistan weighing diplomatic victory and renewed institutional interest on strong quarterly financial results”.

Strong economic data on current account surplus for Jul-September 2020, surging remittances and exports, record quarterly financial results in cement and banking sectors turned the stocks bullish, Mehanti added.

The top gainers were Rafhan Maize, up Rs200 to close at Rs8,300/share, and Millat Tractors, up Rs57.80 to finish at Rs979.13/share, while Nestle Pakistan, down Rs74.69 to close at Rs6425.31/share, and Premier Sugar, losing Rs42.69 to close at Rs526.56/share, were the main losers.

Maple Leaf Cement, up Rs1.74 to end at Rs43.92/share, emerged as the volume leader with 48.526 million shares, whereas Aisha Steel Mill, up Rs0.51 to end at Rs16.55/share, lagged behind all in terms of turnover with 8.993 million traded shares.

Advertisement