Stocks near three-year high in energy-led rally

Stocks on Wednesday ended near three-year high as a surprise oil surge fired up energy sector that was later joined by cements on price hike hopes and banks because of strong earnings outlook, dealers said.

Benchmark KSE-100 shares index hit a high of 1.13 percent or 502.99 points to close at 45,153.42 points at Pakistan Stock Exchange (PSX). Volumes increased to 664.538 million shares, from 582.367 million shares on Tuesday. KSE-30 gained 1.14 percent or 212.97 points to end at 18,921.67 points.

Ovais Ahsan, chief executive officer at Optimus Capital Management, said oil and gas exploration sector led the rally initially tracking an up to 5 percent upsurge in crude oil overnight, mainly spurred by Saudi Arabia’s announcement of a surprise production cut.

MEBL was the biggest index mover today as the Islamic bank continues to post industry leading deposit growth, Ahsan added.

He said the cement sector also rallied on expectations of further price hikes in the wake of rising input costs.

Of 417 active scrips, of which 232 increased, 168 lost, and 17 remained unchanged.

Salman Ahmad, head of institutional sales at Aba Ali Habib Securities, said, the index reached a three-year high after crude oil hit $50 a barrel, while approval of construction package by the Cabinet also yielded positive sentiment.

Power and textile stocks saw some pressure owing to circular debt issue resolution snags and deferment of textile policy for five years in the ECC meeting, respectively, Ahmad added.

Muhammad Saeed Khalid, head of research at Shajar Capital said the market remained robust during the session, marking an intraday high of 45,195 points, as investors bought heavily in the oil and power stocks mainly on the expected production cut by the Saudi Arabia along with the strong fundamentals in the power industry.

“We noticed robust volumetric activity in PRL, BYCO, HASCOL, TRG and KAPCO. Investors also remained bullish in the cement stocks ahead of likely increase in cement prices,” Khalid added.

Shahab Farooq, director research at Next Capital said with a continued positive momentum in most of the energy sector stocks, banks led the rally as investors went after their attractive valuations and prospects of bumper dividends with their full-year results.

Yawar-Uz-Zaman head of research at Peral Securities said interest was witnessed in oil and gas, refineries, cement, and power sectors, while rumors of an increase in cement prices also lifted the sentiment.

Further support came from exploration and production sector that rallied on rising oil prices after the OPEC+ meeting outcome, Zaman added.

Ahsan Mehanti from Arif Habib Corporation said stocks made gains across the board as investors weighed surging global equities and crude oil prices.

Upbeat CPI inflation numbers for December 2020, construction sector amnesty package, and speculations ahead of major financial results due next week kept stocks rising, Mehanti added.

Major gainers were, Pakistan Tobacco, up Rs99.98 to close at Rs1699.98/share, and Rafhan Maize, strengthening by Rs51 to finish at Rs9850/share.

Tandlianwala Sugar, down Rs13.52 to close at Rs166.86/share, and Shezan International, losing Rs12 to close at Rs336/share, were the main losers.

Byco Petroleum led volumes with 97.627 million shares and gained Rs1 to end at Rs9.79/share. Engro Polymer posted the lowest turnover with 13.158 million shares, rising by Rs3.04 to end at Rs50.05/share.