Stocks up on hopes of Azadi March ending amicably

The capital market on Friday, last session of the week, closed on a positive note as investors expect political temperature to cool down further and the Azadi March to fizzle out amicably in the coming week, dealers said.

Analyst Ahsan Mehanti from Arif Habib Corporations said, “Bullish trend continues at PSX as investors weigh falling bond yields and surging forex reserves leading to economic stability.”

Trade remained higher at the market, led by cement, banking and fertiliser scrips on strong earnings outlook.

Mid-session pressure remained on uncertainty over outcome of ongoing political protests. Easing circular debt crises, surge in local POL prices and rupee stability played a catalytic role in the bullish close, he added.

Pakistan Stock Exchange (PSX) benchmark KSE-100 shares index gained 0.51 percent or 173.93 points to close at 34,377.61 points level. KSE-30 shares index followed suit with a high of 0.67 percent or 106.98 points to end at 16,044.69 points level.

Of 349 active scrips, 170 went up, 142 retreated, and 37 remained unchanged. The ready market volumes stood at 157.118 million shares, as compared with the turnover of 183.976 million shares in the previous session.

Salman Ahmad, head of institutional sales at Aba Ali Habib, said the yields and PE have been quite attractive and following the decline in Pakistan Investment Bonds yields and expectation of National Savings Scheme cut, scrips would become more attractive.

He said closing of the market above 34,400 points level showed that fundamentally the market has been strong and with arrival of more positive news the index has the potential improve more.

The market before the close accelerated sharply on hopes that the “Azadi March” would soon end amicably, as against earlier views of long sit-in creating tension among investors.

Early end would cool down the political temperature and uncertainty, helping the market to score big, an analyst said.

A leading trader said the index showed relatively better performance despite weekend on hopes that the interest rate cut was imminent.

The new monetary policy would be announced this month, where different views suggest that a rate cut of 50 basis points was on the cards.

Maaz Mulla from JS Resesarch said, “Banking sector enjoyed the upward trend where UBL gained one percent, MCB 1.1 percent and HBL 0.8 percent, while E&Ps showed declines after crude oil prices edged lower.”

Pakistan Petroleum and OGDC were down by 0.9 percent. “We expect market to remain choppy on the political front and recommend investors to accumulate stocks on dips,” he suggested.

The highest gainers were Nestle Pakistan, up Rs49.00 close at Rs6,499.00/share, and Mari Petroleum, up Rs38.27 to finish at Rs1,127.18/share.

Companies that booked highest losses were Phillip Morris Pakistan, down Rs141.59 to close at Rs2,690.28/share, and Sapphire Textile, down Rs47.43 to close at Rs901.18/share.

Fauji Cement recorded the highest volumes with a turnover of 12.861 billion shares. The scrip gained Re0.20 to end at Rs15.74/share.

The lowest volumes were witnessed in Lucky Cement, recording a turnover of 4.133 million shares, whereas the scrip gained Rs11.07 to end at Rs362.69/share.