Index inches up 0.30 percent; late buying helps

The capital market on Thursday inched up on profit taking amid hopes that positive trends would occur on external fronts with the current account deficit shrinking further and foreign investment going up, dealers said.

Salman Ahmad, head of institutional sales at Aba Ali Habib said the market has entered the overbought zone, and now a correction was due, as the index faced resistance before reaching 36,000 points level.

“Friday session would be an important one, as MSCI review has been scheduled where if status quo was maintained the market would likely remain muted.” However, he said if some downward changes occurred, the market would likely see some selling pressure in the short-term, while inviting investment in the long-term.

Pakistan Stock Exchange (PSX) benchmark KSE-100 shares index gained 0.30 percent or 105.19 points to close at 35,758.52 points level. KSE-30 shares index followed suit with a high of 0.24 percent or 39.91 points to end at 16,646.39 points level.

Of 366 active scrips, 155 went up, 191 retreated, and 20 remained unchanged. The ready market volumes stood at 265.966 million shares, as compared with the turnover of 298.062 million shares in the previous session.

Analyst Ahsan Mehanti from Arif Habib Corporations said, “Bullish trend continued at the PSX led by selected oil and fertiliser stocks on strong valuations.”

Upbeat CPI inflation data at 11.04 percent in October 2019, ECC decisions over upward revision in OMC margins linked to consumer inflation, surge in global equities and crude oil prices played a catalytic role in the bullish close, Mehanti added.

Pakistan Tobacco Company Limited was the top contributor to the index with 29 points, followed by Engro and Pakistan Oilfields Limited which contributed 28 and 26 points, respectively.

A leading trader said the market opened on a negative note where the index saw session low of 35,458 points amidst evident selling pressure in scrips having leverage, like steel, cement and textile sectors.

Oil marketing companies, having good weightage in the index, helped the market close on a positive note. Two factors that helped oil shares climb sharply were stable crude oil prices and ECC decision to increase the OMC’s margins which would help improve earnings.

Arif Habib Limited in their daily market analysis said, “Higher than expected inflation caused concern amongst investors about the upcoming monetary policy, where a few days back market had a consensus on likely rate cut.”

Selling activity was therefore observed in cement and steel sectors, which have lately seen consistent rally before and after recent announcement of financial results, the brokerage house added.

The highest gainers were Pakistan Tobacco, up Rs107.00 to close at Rs2,500.00/share, and Bata Pakistan, up Rs78.39 to finish at Rs1,646.38/share. Companies that booked highest losses were Nestle Pakistan, down Rs229.00 to close at Rs6,550.00/share, and Phillip Morris Pakistan, down Rs129.00 to close at Rs2,451.00/share.

WorldCall Telecom recorded the highest volumes with a turnover of 45.814 billion shares. The scrip gained Re0.21 to end at Rs1.70/share. The lowest volumes were witnessed in Unity Foods Limited, recording a turnover of 5.086 million shares, whereas the scrip lost Re0.28 to end at Rs10.68/share.