Stocks gain ahead of tax amnesty announcement

Stocks on Thursday rallied around one percent ahead of tax amnesty scheme announcement as motivated investors took active positions in blue-chip shares, dealers said.

The scheme was announced by Prime Minister Shahid Khaqan Abbasi later in the evening.

Analyst Ahsan Mehanti at Arif Habib Corp said stocks closed bullish led by blue-chip oil, financial and cement scrips as market expected PM’s announcement of tax amnesty on declaration of foreign assets.

“Recovery in global crude prices, upbeat cement and fertiliser sales amid rising local cement prices and foreign inflows played a catalytic role in the bullish close,” he said.

Pakistan Stock Exchange (PSX) benchmark KSE-100 shares index gained 0.99 percent or 457.21 points to close at 46,560.82 points. KSE-30 shares index gained 1.39 percent or 320.72 points to close at 23,437.83 points. As many as 373 scrips were active of which 185 advanced, 164 declined and 24 remained unchanged.

The ready market volumes stood at 233.35 million shares as compared with the turnover of 270.17 million shares a day earlier.

Analyst Zain-ul-Abedin at Elixir Securities said equities carried their winning streak as KSE-100 index closed over 46,500 points level, up 1.0 percent.

“Market witnessed lacklustre volumes at the opening with an intraday blip; however, it recovered the lost ground by midday, driven mainly by sharp gains in financials,” the analyst added.

Among notables Habib Bank Limited up 4.4 percent, United Bank Limited up 2.5 percent, and MCB bank up 1.5 percent on reported local institutional interest. Gas utilities surged 1.8 percent, energy was up 1.1 percent, and cements up 0.5 percent also contributed to gains, however, steels down 2.0 percent traded choppy on proposal to remove regulatory duties on steel products.

Going forward, analysts see the market to maintain the current bullish momentum with KSE-100 index targeting 47,000 point level in days ahead.

Analysts said possible announcement of amnesty scheme by the PM later in the day would dictate the sentiments in Friday’s session.

Companies with the highest gains included Unilever Foods, up Rs100 to close at Rs9,900/share, and Indus Dyeing, up Rs27.03 to close at Rs567.92/share. Companies with the most losses included Philip Morris Pakistan, down Rs50 to close at Rs2,850/share and Colgate Palmolive, down Rs39 to end at Rs3,100/share.

Highest volumes were witnessed in Byco Petroleum with a turnover of 16.627 million shares. The scrip shed 22 paisas to close at Rs15.10/share. Engro Polymer was second with a turnover of 15.43 million shares. It gained 32 paisas to close at Rs36.94/share. Lotte Chemical was third with a turnover of 9.03 million shares. It shed 28 paisas to close at Rs10.86/share