Stocks snap back on value-hunting

Stocks on Friday snapped back, recovering from the week’s crushing routs as investors gobbled up oversold stocks mostly in the last trading hour, traders said.

Pakistan Stock Exchange's (PSX) benchmark KSE-100 Share Index gained 178.41 points or 0.41 percent to close at 44,114.16 points, testing a day high and low of 44,333.66 and 43,736.51 points.

Arif Habib Corp’s Ahsan Mehanti was of the view that stocks showed sharp recovery amid higher trades in oversold stocks and short covering as investors weighed in robust data on textile exports surging by 26.6 percent in July-October FY2022, and remittance over $2.5 billion in October.

“Mid-session pressure remained owing to rupee instability and a slump in global equities and crude oil prices.”

Speculations for likely resumption of IMF program and receipts from Saudi package supported a bullish close, Mehanti added.

KSE-30 index gained 94.74 points or 0.56 percent to close at 17,034.02 points.

Traded shares increased by 94 million to 289.84 million from 195.17 million shares on Thursday, while trading value swelled to Rs10.27 billion from Rs8.39 billion.

Market capital slightly rose to Rs7.587 trillion from Rs7.574 trillion. Out of 338 actives in the session, 175 advanced, 146 retreated, while 17 ended neutral.

Topline Securities in a post-market note said the benchmark index largely remained positive during the last trading session of the week as investors came in to amass shares at an attractive valuations near 44,000 points level.

A major contribution to the index came from HUBC, HBL, LUCK, SYS, and ENGRO, as they together contributed 169 points to the index, whereas PPL, OGDC, TRG, MARI, and POL dragged it down by 80 points.

The highest increase was recorded in the share prices of Philip Morris Pakistan, which rose Rs56 to Rs806/share, followed by Siemens Pakistan that jumped Rs43.12 to Rs618.12/share.

Nestle Pakistan was the worst hit stock of the day as it fell Rs101.67 to Rs5,500.33/share, trailed by Sapphire Fiber that lost Rs59.99 to close at Rs840/share.

Arif Habib Ltd (AHL) in its market wrap said the battle between bulls and bears was conquered by the bulls in the last trading hour.

The market opened with positive momentum as investors perceived the last leg of the foreign selling spree was completed on the last trading day of the week, the brokerage added.

However, foreign selling continued and led the market back into red territory, AHL analysts said adding that activity continued to remain sideways as the market witnessed hefty volumes in the 3rd tier stocks.

In the second session, the brokerage said, institutional buyers started accumulating value stocks because of attractive multiples, which led the market to close in the green zone.

WorldCall Telecom was the highest traded stock with 34.17 million shares, followed by TPL Properties that recorded a turnover of 17.21 million shares.

Stocks that recorded significant turnover included Byco Petroleum, Hum Network, Modaraba Al-Mal, TRG Pak Ltd, Telecard Limited, Treet Corp, First National Equities, and Aisha Steel Mill.

Shares’ turnover in the future contracts increased to 289.46 million shares from 140.63 million on Thursday.