Stocks rise over one percent on foreign buying; auto leads

Stocks gained 1.3 percent on Friday, buoyed by auto and financial shares while offshore investors continued to be net buyers and added fuel to a rally that started towards the start of the week, dealers said.

Analyst Ahsan Mehanti at Arif Habib Corp said bullish activity was witnessed in scrips across the board.

“(Prime Minister) PM’s approval for amnesty scheme on offshore assets and surging cotton production data played a catalytic role in the bullish close,” Mehanti added.

Trade remained higher in second and third tier scrips ahead of earnings announcements due next week.

Pakistan Stock Exchange’s (PSX) benchmark KSE-100 shares index gained 1.37 percent or 597.95 points to close at 44,178.83 points. KSE-30 shares index gained 1.3 percent or 286.95 points to close at 22,392.36 points. As many as 378 scrips were active of which 271 advanced, 92 declined and 15 remained unchanged.

The ready market volumes stood at 209.47 million shares as compared with the turnover of 268.457 million shares a day earlier.

Brokerage Arif Habib Limited in its post-market note said the market rejected despondency created by a tweet of Imran Khan, opposition Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) chairman, and maintained the bullish run.

“The index climbed back again above 44,000 points as foreigners are likely to have contributed today, who have so far injected $76 million in banks, cement and E&P stocks during January so far,” it added.

Compared with the activity in past few days, Indus Motors, up 4.5 percent, Millat Tractors, up 5.0 percent, Pak Suzuki, up 4.9 percent and Abbot Laboratories, up 3.8 percent contributed significantly to the day’s performance.

Profit-taking was witnessed in exploration and production sector as all the listed companies closed marginally down.

Banking sector also invited buying on attractive values as Habib Bank surged 1.8 percent while United Bank closed with a gain of 1.9 percent. Apart from these, Engro Corp surged 2.0 percent and Lucky Cement gained 2.1 percent.

Analysts believe the positive momentum to continue going forward.

Companies reflecting highest gains include Nestle Pakistan, up Rs299.98 to close at Rs10,800/share, and Bata Pakistan, up Rs120 to close at Rs2,520/share.

Companies reflecting most losses include Wyeth Pakistan, down Rs78.55 to close at Rs1,764.84/share, and United Brands, down Rs14.80 to end at Rs555/share.

Highest volumes were witnessed in Worldcall Telecom with a turnover of 12.96 million shares. The scrip gained seven paisas to close at Rs2.87/share. Sui Southern Gas Company was second with a turnover of 12.22 million shares. It gained Rs1.18 to close at Rs34.59/share. Dewan Cement was third with a turnover of 11.38 million shares. It shed Rs1.01 to finish at Rs21.8/share.