Stocks pull off a stunner on wholesale value-buying

Attractive values turned the tide for stocks on Tuesday with sentimental support coming from the reports the country’s Covid rate was slowing down, dealers said.

Topline Securities in a note said bucking the trend, the KSE- 100 Index rebounded from Monday’s selloff and closed the day at 44,405 points, gaining 856.49 points (1.97 percent). The major positive contributors were TRG, LUCK, HUBC, HBL & SYS that cumulatively added around 269 points to the benchmark index, the brokerage said.

Reviewing notices, the Topline report said MLCF informed investors the company had increased its capacity of Line III from 7,300tpd to 7,800tpd through debottlenecking and BMR after which the stock gained 4.26 percent to close at 44.95.

On a whole, the cement sector saw renewed investor interest with the sector closing up 3.45 percent for the day, the brokerage house said.

Ready market volumes were almost unchanged at 305.96 million shares compared to 302.80 million on Monday.

Ahsan Mehanti at Arif Habib Corp said Pakistan Stock Exchange (PSX) closed bullish led by scrips across the board amid speculations ahead of quarter-end financial results announcements.

Oil, autos, and cement sector outperformed on robust sales in March, while bullish global equities and crude oil kicked the index higher, Mehanti added.

Of 393 active scrips 301 advanced, 71 declined, and 21 remained unchanged.

Saeed Khalid at Shajar Capital said investors bought vigorously on dips -Monday’s closing prices.

“Investors thronged the refinery sector mainly on the recovering oil prices in the international markets.”

Buying was also witnessed in automobile sector betting on higher sales volume, Khalid said.

Tracking the benchmark, KSE-30 Index also gained 2.21 percent or 394.65 points to close at 18,245.89 points.

A A H Soomro at KASB Securities said stock market rebounded sharply owing to value-hunting amid easing national infection rate.

“Policymakers have been guarded in saying the infection rate is slightly decreasing after government proactively shut down some areas in Punjab.”

Similarly, a positive momentum could be witnessed as World Bank has hinted that G-20 should extend debt-relief to December 2021, Soomro said adding that should be comforting news for currency and the market.

Muhamad Rafay at Pearl Securities said market finally turned positive after the statement by Chairman NCOC that increased restrictions and broader lockdown had started showing results where the Covid ratio had started declining.

“Also, Pakistan may get further debt relief from G-20 countries till December 2021 which stoked buying interest.” Meanwhile, fast-tracking Covid-19 vaccination drive had picked up pace as almost 1.0 million vaccinations had been carried out so far for Covid response, Rafay said.

Technology was in the limelight mainly owing to PM Imran Khan’s disclosing the government intentions to promote the sector by giving several incentives in the outgoing year.

Going forward, analysts expect the market to move both ways, and recommend investors to take exposure in cement, steel and refinery sectors for the upcoming session.

Unilever Foods, up Rs439.89 to close at Rs13,750/share, and Pakistan Tobacco, growing Rs66.39 to close at Rs1,511.43/share, emerged as the best gainers of the day.

The worst losers were Sapphire Textile, shedding Rs63.97 to close at Rs862/share, and Sapphire Fiber, falling Rs59.99 to end at Rs795.01/share.

TRG Pakistan led volume chart with 20.64 million shares, followed by Netsol Technologies with 19.22 million shares, and Unity Foods with a trade of 16.48 million shares.