Stocks set record again, led by bank, auto shares

Stocks rolled to a third straight day of gains on Wednesday to mint a new record high, fueled by better-than-expected corporate earnings, dealers said.

Analyst Ahsan Mehanti at Arif Habib Corp said stocks closed higher led by second and third tier scrips on strong earnings outlook. “Autos and textile stocks outperformed the index on falling yen and rising cotton prices while higher global crude oil prices, subdued noise over LoC and speculation on positive outcome from the CPEC projects in the banking, steel and cement sectors played a catalyst role ahead of quarter end earning announcements,” he said. The Pakistan Stock Exchange's (PSX) benchmark KSE 100-share Index gained 0.31 percent or 129.49 points to close at a new all time high of 41,253.46 points. The highest index of the day remained at 41,429.49 points while the lowest level of the day was recorded at 41,123.97 points. KSE-30 Index fell 0.05 percent or 10.78 points to close at 22,758.16 points.

Turnover increased by 98 million shares to 657.86 million shares, trading value rose to Rs17.99 billion, compared to Rs17.31 billion in the last session. Market capital expanded to Rs8.38 trillion from Rs8.34 trillion. Out of 453 companies’ active in the session, 282 advanced, 153 declined while 18 remained unchanged.  Analyst at JS Research Ahmed Saeed Khan said positivity prevailed in the market and the index continued to chase previously unknown levels. “Despite global crude oil prices climbing to a three month high on soft US crude stocks, profit taking was witnessed in the oil sector,” Khan said. Top index movers of the aforementioned sector were PPL (down 2.73 percent) and OGDC (down 0.08 percent).  Similarly profit taking was also witnessed in the cement sector as global coal prices hit 30-month high.

On the other hand rally was witnessed in tractor manufacturer stocks on the back of reduced GST along with steps taken by the government to improve the agronomics of the country and anticipation of better than previous sales numbers for the month of September.  Furthermore, expectations of interest rate hike in the upcoming monetary policy gained momentum as MCB (up 0.85 percent) and NBP (up 1.06 percent) were the biggest index movers.

Highest increase was recorded in shares of Rafhan Maize, which rose by Rs327.31 to Rs7,677.31/share, followed by Wyeth Pak Ltd that increased by Rs126.78 to Rs2,662.53/share. Major decline was noted in shares of Nestle Pakistan, which fell by Rs75 to Rs7,600/share, followed by Khyber Tobacco that decreased by Rs40.82 to Rs889.18/share. Significant turnover was recorded in stocks of Lotte Chemical, Bank of Punjab, Pakistan International Airlines (A), Summit Bank, Japan Power, TRG Pak Ltd, Pace (Pak) Ltd, Silk Bank, Aisha Steel Mill and JS Bank  Lotte Chemical remained the volume leader with 42.23 million shares with an increase of 99 paisas to Rs9.04/share; followed by BoP with 41.57 million shares with an increase of 81 paisas to Rs16.01/share.  Shares’ turnover in the future contracts fell to 57.23 million shares from 71.26 million shares traded in the previous session.