Late tech rally lifts stocks from early lows

KARACHI: Stocks on Monday fell prey to foreign selling, but were rescued by a technology rally amid hopes of strong quarterly earnings and successful IMF loan talks, traders said.

KSE-100 Shares Index, the benchmark of the Pakistan Stock Exchange (PSX), gained 172.80 points or 0.39 percent to close at 45,044.50 points, testing a day high and low of 45,105 and 44,552.70 points.

Ahsan Mehanti, an analyst at Arif Habib Corp, said stocks showed sharp recovery led by scrips across the board ahead of quarter-end financial results due this week and reports of 26 percent surge in exports in September 2021 to $2.4 billion.

Surging global crude oil prices and speculations on likely release of $1 billion IMF International Monetary Fund’s Extended Funding Facility, $3.6 billion Saudi deferred payment facility helped built bullish sentiment, he said.

KSE-30 Shares Index also moved higher by 75.86 points or 0.43 percent to 17,684.02 points. Traded shares decreased 105 million shares to end flat at 267 million shares, while traded value rose to Rs10.09 billion from Rs9.02 billion. Market capital inched up to Rs7.846 trillion from Rs7.808 trillion. Of 545 actives in the session, 348 were advancers, 192 retreaters, and five ended up as neutrals.

Despite of some gloomy economic scenario in the country, there was good news that startup investment in the country had increased. Topline Securities in a note said equities started the week on a bearish note with the benchmark index printing an intraday low of 44,561 as investors adopted a cautious stance owing to the recent hype of Pandora papers coupled with a higher than anticipated CPI (Consumer Price Index) number of 8.99 percent year-on-year for the month of September 2021.

However, the market staged a recovery in the latter half of the session as optimism arose over the IMF talks, beginning from Monday and the index settled at 45,044, the brokerage said. On the corporate results front, SEARL announced its FY21 EPS (earning per share) of Rs15.80 along with a cash dividend of Rs2.0/share and a bonus issue of 30 percent after which the script rallied 7.5 percent and closed the day at its upper circuit at Rs219.8. Moreover, GGL notified the exchange its board of directors had decided to make an Initial Public Offering (IPO) of Ghani Chemical Industries Limited after, which the stock rose to Rs37.81, up 7.5 percent.

Rafhan Maize was the best performer in terms of gains, rising Rs400 to Rs10,900/share, followed by Colgate PalmXB that jumped Rs100.01 to Rs2,400/share. Sapphire Textile led the losers chart, falling Rs78.75 to Rs971.25/share, followed by Bata Pakistan, down Rs63.33 to end at Rs1,700/share.

Brokerage Arif Habib Limited in its market review said increased foreign outflows, because of reclassification of Pakistan from MSCI Emerging Market to MSCI Frontier Market in recent sessions, added to the pressure on the index and Monday was no different.

An uptick in technology stocks like NETSOL, TRG, and AVN just before the start of trading in Octopus Digital lifted the index to a high of over 170 points from a low of around 310 points, it reported.

Telecard Limited was the highest traded stock with 25.66 million shares. The telecom rose Rs1.20 to Rs19.19/share. WorldCall Telecom was next with 21.64 million shares. It also gained 15 paisas to close at Rs2.93/share.

Stocks that recorded significant turnover included Summit Bank, Byco Petroleum, Ghani Global Holdings, TPL Corp Ltd, TRG Pakistan Ltd, Unity Foods Ltd, Avanceon Ltd, and Askari Bank. Turnover in the future contracts decreased to 100.98 million shares from 110.17 million in the previous session.