Stocks rebounds as bargain-hunters prop blue-chip shares

Stocks climbed 2.57 percent on Thursday as investors picked bargains in the battered market, after political worries appeared to be easing but the outlook was grim due to inflation and high oil prices, dealers said.

Topline Securities in a post market note said after sideways opening the market witnessed recovery as investors cheered the clarity over political noise “where information minister said the government and military are on the same page. Further, he (the minister) added that the process for appointing the new DG ISI will be completed soon”.

The Pakistan Stock Exchange's (PSX) benchmark KSE 100-share index gained 1,111.90 points or 2.57 percent to close at 44,333.68 points against 43,221.78 points recorded in the last session.

The index touched an inter-day high and low of 44,433.33 points and 43,042.44 points, respectively.

KSE-30 index also closed 461.95 points or 2.74 percent up to 17,343.02 points against 16,881.07 points.

Zafar Moti, a former director of the PSX, said prospects of a deal with the IMF also had a positive impact on the market.

“Market had done bottom, not because results were bad etc. It had done bottom, as investors had stopped pouring in money in the market,” Moti said. “Market saw the orders of buying started coming since morning.”

Traded shares increased by 34 million shares to 388.59 million shares from 354.96 million shares.

The trading value rose to Rs13.08 billion from Rs12.29 billion. Market capital rose to Rs7.747 trillion from Rs7.582 trillion. Out of 557 companies active in the session, 464 posted gains, 79 losses while 14 remained neutral.

Ahsan Mehanti, an analyst at Arif Habib Corp, said stocks showed sharp recovery led by selected scrips across the board on bullish global equities, surging global crude prices, and strong quarter end financial results.

“Speculations on likely release of $1 billion IMF EFF next week, IMF higher growth forecast of over 4 percent in FY22 and upbeat data on car sales surge by 58pc YoY in Sep’21 played a catalytic role in bullish close,” he added.

The highest increase was recorded in shares of Unilever Foods, which rose by Rs600 to Rs21,000/share, followed by Nestle Pakistan that increased by Rs135 to Rs5,850/share.

A major decline was noted in shares of Highnoon (Lab), which fell by Rs17.17 to Rs575.10/share, followed by Pak Engineering that decreased by Rs14.50 to Rs330.50/share.

LUCK, TRG, HBL and UBL were the major contributors in the trading session cumulatively adding 310 points in KSE100 Index. On the corporate result front, MEBL posted 3Q2021 EPS Rs4.3 along with DPS of Rs1.5.

WorldCall Telecom remained the volume leader with 66.16 million shares with an increase of 37 paisas to Rs2.43 per share. It was followed by Unity Foods Ltd with 25.02 million shares that closed higher by Rs1.95 to Rs28.50 per share.

Stocks that recorded significant turnover included Telecard Limited, Treet Corp, Hascol Petrol, TRG Pak Ltd, Silk Bank Ltd, Byco Petroleum, TPL Properties and TPL Corp Ltd.

Shares’ turnover in the future contracts decreased to 101.23 million shares from 128.05 million shares.