PSX sets record again on corporate results

Stocks closed over one percent higher on Monday to mint new record high for the benchmark KSE 100 share index, fueled by expectations of better quarterly corporate earnings, dealers said.

 “Stocks closed on all time highs led by oil, fertilizers and banking scrips amid speculations ahead of major earning announcements this week,” said Ahsan Mehanti, analyst at Arif Habib Corp.  

Howevr, he said, the market also witnessed some pressure on foreign outflows and also in selected cement cements stocks after Wapda cancelled a few CPEC related contracts for Dasu Hydropower Project. 

Higher global crude prices, ECC approval of fertilizer subsidies for 2017 and export of surplus urea, reports of positive impact of textile package played a catalytic role in record close, Mehanti said.

The Pakistan Stock Exchange's (PSX) benchmark index gained 1.04 percent or 511.35 points to at all time high of 49,876.18 points. The highest index of the day remained at 49,938.48 points while the lowest level of the day was recorded at 49,364.83 points. KSE-30 Index also rose by 245.36 points to 26,682.01 points.

Turnover rose by 141 million shares to 600.37 million shares against 459.72 million shares. Trading value increased to Rs24.47 billion from Rs22.90 billion, while market capital expanded to Rs9.98 trillion against Rs9.90 trillion. Out of 439 companies’ active in the session, 277 closed in green, 146 in red while 16 remained unchanged.

Analyst Ali Raza at Elixir Securities said market opened positive and gained steadily throughout the trade as steels and autos stocks carried momentum on steady domestic liquidity.

Main highlight of the day was K-Electric (up 6.3 percent) that traded above its deal price of Rs10.10 a share, as local institutional investors reportedly accumulated on hopes that foreign selling has exhausted. KEL fell short of just 3.4 million shares to break its all-time high traded volume. However, it contributed more than one-third of total traded shares and nearly two-third of total volumes on the index. Cements traded volatile and closed mixed as Cherat Cement (up 0.2 percent) made a surprise announcement of another expansion. Financials closed mixed on relatively less volumes, while oils closed mostly in green tracking recovery in global crude.

“We see current momentum to continue in the near-term with the index comfortably surpassing the 50,000 psychological levels on strong domestic liquidity and earnings and payout excitement,” Raza said.  Highest increase was recorded in shares of Sapphire Textile, which rose by Rs61.50 to Rs1,291.50/share, followed by ICI Pakistan that increased by Rs58.01 to Rs1,218.27/share. Major decline was noted in shares of Wyeth Pak Ltd, which fell by Rs144.26 to Rs4,595.73/ share, followed by Sanofi-Aventis that decreased by Rs55.96 to Rs2,582.25/share.

Significant turnover was recorded in stocks of K-Electric Ltd, Lotte Chemical, Japan Power, Dost Steels Ltd, TRG Pak Ltd, Power Cement Ltd, Telecard Limited, Engro Fertilizers, Ghani Automobile and Silk Bank Ltd.

K-Electric Ltd remained the volume leader with 213.82 million shares with an increase of 60 paisas to Rs10.16/share. It was followed by Lotte Chemical with 27.24 million shares with an increase of 36 paisas to Rs9.13/share. Shares’ turnover in the future contracts increased to 143.67 million shares from 58.62 million shares traded in the previous session.