KSE-100 marks historic close as foreign portfolio investment swells

Stocks ended the week on a triumphant note, with the benchmark index clinching a fresh all-time high on Friday, buoyed by a surge in foreign portfolio investment and a series of encouraging economic indicators, including a strengthened rupee following the rollover of a $3 billion deposit by Saudi Arabia.

The Pakistan Stock Exchange's benchmark KSE-100 index leaped by 1,160 points, or 1.92 percent, to close at 61,691 points, after maintaining a positive trajectory throughout the day, peaking at an intraday high of 61,779.73 points and touching a low of 60,576.42 points. The session saw a robust trading volume of 295.893 million shares. During the trading session 70 companies closed up, 10 closed down, one was unchanged, while 19 remained untraded.

"Stocks closed a new all time high amid rupee stability after Saudi deposit rollover, strong key economic data and surging foreign portfolio investment," said analyst Ahsan Mehanti at Arif Habib Co.

"The reports of $30 million net FIPI over 6 year high during November 2023, and government deliberations over privatization of ailing SOEs played a catalytic role in the record close."

November marked a significant milestone for Pakistan’s stock market, witnessing the highest monthly net inflow of foreign portfolio investment in four years. Foreign corporates purchased shares worth $66 million and sold $31 million, resulting in a net acquisition of $35 million, the most substantial monthly inflow since 2017.

Topline Securities in a post-trading report said the index sustained its upward momentum, reaching a record high of 61,691 points and closing with a gain of 1.92 percent.

"The market’s positive reaction was attributed to improvements in the country’s economic indicators, such as an increase in foreign exchange reserves (State Bank of Pakistan reserves rose by $77 million to $7.257 billion for the week ending November 24) and the expected decrease in the policy rate."

The brokerage observed broad-based buying at the exchange, with significant contributions to the index from MTL, ENGRO, LUCK, PPL, and DAWH, which together added 407 points to the index. The day’s traded volume and value reached 528 million shares and Rs21.5 billion, respectively, with WTL leading in volume with 43 million shares.

Sector-wise, the KSE-100 index found support from cement (299.16 points), Automobile Assembler (128.12 points), Fertilizer (126.65 points), Commercial Banks (106.96 points), and Oil & Gas Exploration Companies (93.55 points).

Contributors to the index’s rise included MTL (115 points), ENGRO (94.81 points), LUCK (89.82 points), PPL (59.76 points), and DAWH (47.62 points). On the downside, the index faced minor drags from Real Estate Investment Trust (0.84 points) and Modarabas (0.36 points), with UPFL (9.33 points), POL (5.83 points), PABC (5.3 points), PSEL (3.36 points), and BOP (3.35 points) pulling it lower.