Stocks surge past 48,000 points led by energy, cement

Stocks on Monday soared to cross 48,000 points, tracking world oil and equities amid growing optimism as Afghan takeover so far remains bloodless and unhostile, traders said.

Pakistan Stock Exchange's (PSX) benchmark KSE-100 Share Index gained 512.39 points or 1.08 percent to end at 48,112.21 points, testing a day high of 48,146.19 points and a low of 47,599.82 points.

Zafar Moti, former director PSX, said the market gathered momentum in voluminous trade and crossed 48,000 points level for the first time in this fiscal year (FY2021-22). He said the expected arrival of over a $2 billion from the IMF (International Monetary Fund) and no bad news from Afghanistan acted as the main triggers.

“The boost that should have arrived at the start of the Muharram came now. The index is likely to reach 48,500 points this week,” Moti said.

KSE-30 Share Index also gained 234.41 points or 1.23 percent to close at 19,337.45 points. Trade volume expanded by 98 million shares to 397.69 million against 299.13 million in the previous session.

Trading value increased to Rs14.85 billion from Rs13.06 billion, while market capitalisation moved up to Rs8.40 trillion from Rs8.31 trillion. As many as 494 companies were active in the session. Of this total, 331 gained, 144 suffered losses, while 19 ended without a change.

Analyst Haris S Khan at Topline Securities said in line with Asian-Pacific markets, the benchmark index also rallied and closed above a key psychological level of 48,000 points. Investor interest was revived in the cement sector after market expectations of softer coal prices helped the sector to close 0.66 percent higher, Khan said adding that on the other hand rising crude oil prices drove energy stocks with OGDC and PPL cumulatively adding 102 points to the index.

On the result front, GLAXO announced an 1H2021 EPS of Rs5.35 compared to Rs3.90 in the corresponding period last year, while PSO and ENGRO that were scheduled to announce their financial result on Monday informed the stock exchange their board of directors meeting was still under progress.

Rafhan Maize led the gainers by rising Rs300 to Rs10,000/share, followed by Unilever Foods that grew Rs260.01 to Rs1,7560/share. Bata Pakistan turned out to the loss leader as it fell Rs88.41 to Rs1,660/share, trailed by Colgate Palm, down Rs64.75 to Rs2,715.25/share.

Ahsan Mehanti, an analyst at Arif Habib Corp said stocks closed bullish amid bull-run in global equities and a surge in global crude oil prices.

Easing border and trade tensions with Afghanistan, finance minister assurance on capital market reforms upon his visit to the PSX, and speculations on likely unconditional release of $2.8 billion IMF support tranche set the sentiments on fire.

Hum Network, Bank of Punjab, Ghani Global Holdings, TPL Properties, Azgard Nine, WorldCall Telecom, Al-Shaheer Group, Flying Cement, Maple Leaf Cement, and Dewan Cement were among the day’s well-traded stocks.

Hum Network was the highest traded stock with 35.38 million shares. The media stocks ticked up by 48 paisas to reach Rs7.68/share. The second highest traded scrip was Bank of Punjab that saw 22.27 million shares changing hands on Monday. The bank gained 38 paisas to close at Rs8.71/share. Turnover in the future contracts surged to 303.04 million shares from 68.60 million traded in the previous session.