Stocks gain on strong valuations in financial, E&P sectors

KARACHI: Stocks closed up on Wednesday despite erratic movements, as investors bet on blue-chip financial and E&P shares over expected rate hike and devaluation in view of IMF package, dealers said.

Shumaila Badar, head of research at Ismail Iqbal Securities said, “The market was volatile, but managed to post gains of 287 points upon buying in banks.”

Investors were attracted to financials on likely interest rate hike in case Pakistan secured a new loan from the IMF. On the other hand auto shares declined, because devaluation would hurt the sector's profits, she said

“We continue to advise investors to accumulate banks,” Shumaila added.

Pakistan Stock Exchange (PSX) benchmark KSE-100 shares index surged 0.75 percent or 287.25 points to close at 38,792.09 points level. KSE-30 shares index followed the suit with a jump of 1.07 percent or 200.93 points to end at 19,005.23 points level.

As many as 384 scrips were astir today, of which 181 moved up, 181 retreated, and 22 remained unchanged. The ready market volumes stood at 199.322 billion shares, as compared with the turnover of 225.117 billion shares in the previous session.

Analyst Ahsan Mehanti from Arif Habib Corporations said, “Bullish activity was witnessed at PSX led by oil, banking and cement scrips on strong valuations.”

Government decision to opt for IMF bailout package to meet external account imbalances, surging global oil prices, higher banking spreads and upbeat data on cement sales surging by 18.9 percent in September 2018 played a catalytic role in the bullish close, he added.

The market opened on a positive note and extended Tuesday’s gain, however, the index lost more than 600 points mid-session on heavy selling pressure.

Share price remained under hectic clipping but before the closure of the market mutual funds, banks and some high net worth individuals placed sizeable deals in the index heavy weights helping the market to recover.

OGDC and other oil scrips gained on expectation that the government would likely increase petroleum product prices following sharp devaluation.

Several cement sector shares were picked by institutions on reports that Prime Minister Imran Khan would announce construction of five million homes.

Pakistan International Airlines came under heaving selling pressure. The scrip lost 80 paisa to close at Rs4.17/share on volume of 7.799 million shares. The company has been placed on the defaulter counter, as it has not conducted its annual general meetings and announced annual accounts for the last two years.

The highest gainers were Archroma Pakistan, up Rs21.85 to close at Rs488.10/share, and Mari Petroleum, up Rs18.61 to finish at Rs1,426.20/share.

Companies that booked highest losses were Island Textile, down Rs96.60 to close at Rs1,835.40/share, and Bata Pakistan, down Rs87.50 to close at Rs1,662.50/share.

TRG Pakistan Limited recorded the highest volumes with a turnover of 21.650 million shares. The scrip gained Rs0.25 to close at Rs24.55/share.

The lowest volumes were witnessed in Fauji Foods Limited, recording a turnover of 8.516 million shares. Its scrip lost Rs0.08 to end at Rs27.41/share.