Stocks close higher tracking budget approval

Stocks closed higher on Wednesday as approval of federal budget and World Bank loan for power sector reforms had positive impact on investor sentiments, traders said.

The Pakistan Stock Exchange (PSX) benchmark KSE 100-shares index went up 0.46 percent or 218.25 points to close at 47,356.02 points, against 47,137.77 points recorded in the last session.

Intraday high was 47,460.31 points, while the lowest level of the day was recorded at 47,137.77 points.

Analyst Ahsan Mehanti at Arif Habib Corp said, “Stocks closed bullish at the year-end close as investors weighed higher global crude oil prices, National Assembly passing finance bill FY22, World Bank approval of $800 million for power sector reforms.”

Rupee stability, bullish global equities, over $1.5 billion record receipts in Roshan Digital Accounts and likely revision of local petroleum prices played a catalytic role in the positive close.

KSE-30 shares index also increased 0.27 percent or 51.79 points to close at 18,961.90 points against 18,910.11 points during the previous session.

Anayst Maaz Mulla at JS Research said, “Optimistic investors kept the index in the green zone today. Going forward, we expect the market to maintain the positive trend and recommend investors to avail any downside in construction and export-oriented sectors.”

Refineries faced an upward trend, where Byco was up 1.7 percent, Pakistan Refinery up 1.2 percent, Attock Refinery up 2.5 percent, and National Refinery up 1.5 percent.

Activity was witnessed in the cement sector on back of talk that manufactures were likely to increase cements prices. Therefore Maple Leaf (2.2 percent), DG Khan Cement (0.6 percent), Pioneer Cement (1.1 percent), and Dewan Cement (2.1 percent) were the major movers for the day.

Turnover, however, dropped by 31 million shares to 549.66 million shares against 580.76 million shares the previous day. Trading value decreased to Rs15.88 billion against Rs17.16 billion. Market capital rose to 8.297 trillion from 8.239 trillion. Out of 422 companies’ active in the session, 257 advanced, 138 declined, while 27 remained unchanged.

Topline Securities released its one-month review of the market. During the outgoing month, KSE 100 index gained 0.5 percent on MoM basis.

Two IPOs were successfully carried out in the month of June-21, Citi Pharma Limited and Pakistan Aluminum Beverage Cans Limited, which were oversubscribed,

There was news that MSCI may reclassify Pakistan from emerging (EM) to frontier markets (FM), where number of constituents would be increased from three in MSCI EM to four in MSCI FM Index with the addition of OGDC.

Highest increase was recorded in shares of Sapphire Fiber, which rose by Rs54.99 to close at Rs790/share, followed by Hinopak Motor that increased by Rs42.70 to close at Rs612.15/share. Major decline was noted in shares of Unilever Foods, which fell by Rs126.25 to close at Rs16,373.75/share, followed by Gatron Ind that decreased by Rs25.90 to close at Rs475.20/share.

Major contribution to the index came from MCB, PPL, MARI, NBP and BAFL, as they cumulatively contributed 144 points to the index.

Significant turnover was recorded in stocks of Silk Bank Ltd, WorldCall Telecom, TPL Corp Ltd, Fauji Foods Ltd, Pace (Pak) Ltd, Ghani Glo Hol, Hum Network, Byco Petroleum, Ghani Global Glass and Hascol Petrol.