Stocks take a hop as year-end rally kicks in

Stock on Wednesday rode high on the back of oil, banking, and technology, as investors, especially financial institutions made the most of attractive valuations ahead of year-end closing, dealers said.

Benchmark KSE-100 shares index gained 0.95 percent or 412.49 points to close at 43,694.76 points at Pakistan Stock Exchange (PSX). Volumes decreased to 455.994 million shares from 503.119 million on Tuesday. KSE-30 was also up 0.77 percent or 138.33 points to end at 18,139.73 points.

Muhammad Saeed Khalid, head of research at Shajar Capital, said the market remained robust, marking an intraday high of 43,751 points. The index tracked world oil markets with mutual funds doing most of the buying, amid expectations of a waiver on import and custom duties on textile raw materials, he said.

Furthermore, investors remained bullish ahead of the New Year holidays along with the recovering sentiments in the refinery stocks, where PRL remained the highest volumetric scrip in the sector. “We have also witnessed robust activity in the tech and automobile sectors, where players invested heavily in TRG, AVN, and GHNL,” Khalid added.

Muhammad Faizan Munshey, associate director KASB Securities, said stocks skyrocketed with technology, refinery, and auto sectors once again taking the front seat in lifting the benchmark index.

“Political noise seems to be decreasing as Pakistan People’s Party (PPP) has decided to contest Senate polls, which bodes well for the overall political environment and is a positive sign for the equity market,” he said.

“We expect the market to remain positive in the coming days amid yearend closing effect in selected stocks as well as seasonal buying at the start of the New Year,” Munshey added.

Trading activity was recorded in 423 active scrips, of which 310 gained, 96 lost, and 17 remained unchanged.

Topline Securities in a note said the market opened on positive note and remained that way throughout the day. Major gainers were TRG, SYS, POL, UBL, and KTML cumulatively contributed 180 points in index, the brokerage said.

Investor interest was also witnessed in autos and refineries sector as PSMC and HCAR closed 4.6 percent, and 3.63 percent higher from autos sector and ATRL and PRL closed at their respective upper circuits from refineries sector, the Topline report added.

Ahsan Mehanti at Arif Habib Corporation said stocks showed recovery ahead of yearend close led by oil, banking, and cement on strong earnings outlook and easing political noise.

Investor weighed global bull-run on US stimulus, surging global crude oil prices, record receipts in Roshan Digital Accounts, and current account surplus in November 2020 contributed to bullish close, Mehanti added.

Brokerage Next Capital in their daily market wrap-up said the participation decreased to 227 million from 298 million in the previous session (-24 percent day-on-day).

Furthermore, major contribution to total market volume came from PRL, TRG, and PAEL churning 113 million shares out of the total market volume of 456 million shares, brokerage house added.

The highest gainers were Rafhan Maize, up Rs349 to close at Rs9,799/share, and Nestle Pakistan, up Rs226 to finish at Rs6845/share.

Sapphire Fibre, down Rs75 to close at Rs944/share, and Bhanero Textile, down Rs67.49 to close at Rs832.51/share, were the main losers.

Pakistan Refinery posted highest volume with 55.266 million shares, gaining Rs1.62 to end at Rs23.28/share. Byco Petroleum recorded the lowest turnover with 11.259 million shares and secured Rs0.19 to end at Rs8.85/share.