Stocks surge as PTI cuts long march short

Stocks soared on Thursday after PTI called off a planned sit-in in Islamabad, easing concerns over an escalation in political unrest, despite the downer of inconclusive IMF talks amid an impending balance of payment crisis, traders said.

Pakistan Stock Exchange's (PSX) benchmark KSE-100 Share Index gained 529.05 points or 1.26 percent to 42,541.71 points against 42,012.66 points.

Pakistan and the IMF once again failed to reach an agreement on an economic bailout, but the market took this upset in a stride as the PTI’s change of protest plans helped the market absorb it.

Ahsan Mehanti, an analyst at Arif Habib Corp, said stocks closed sharply higher on former prime minister Imran Khan’s withdrawal of long march call and surging global equities and global crude oil prices.

KSE-30 Shares Index also closed higher by 229.99 points or 1.45 percent to 16,143.03 points.

Traded volume increased 107 million shares to 347.068 million from 240.046 million shares, while value increased to Rs9.042 billion from Rs7.570 billion.

Turnover in the future contracts increased to 232.579 million shares from 164.105 million shares.

Market capital expanded to Rs7.066 trillion from Rs7.000 trillion. Out of 351 companies active in the session, 263 closed in the green, 63 in the red, while 25 ended unchanged.

Analyst Muhammad Arbash at Topline Securities said equities after a sideways opening, the market spiked to make an intraday high of 595 points after Imran Khan cancelled the sit-in in Islamabad.

Khan gave Shehbaz Sharif government six days to announce a date for elections and dissolve the assemblies, otherwise he would relaunch his protest long march to Islamabad.

Major positivity came from the technology sector where SYS, TRG and AVN closed higher followed by the financial and cement sectors.

Siemens Pakistan was the best gainer of the day, up Rs45 to Rs645 per share, followed by Philip Morris Pakistan, which increased by Rs38.87 to Rs580 per share.

The worst loser of the day was Colgate Palm, which fell Rs76.71 to Rs2,123 per share, followed by Indus Motor Co, down Rs18.43 to Rs1,268.17 per share.

Arif Habib Ltd in a note said the market ended a weeklong negative momentum as the investors cheered much-needed clarity on the political front.

Despite opening in the red zone the market rebounded after the opposition party called off the long march, the brokerage said.

It said positive momentum prevailed across the board as investors opted for value-buying throughout the day.

Healthy volumes were witnessed in the market although 3rd tier stocks were more active, according to Arif Habib market report.

JS Research said oversold stocks sparked fresh buying.

“Going forward, we expect the index to move upward and touch 43,000 points level, while cement, technology, and banking stocks look attractive now,” the brokerage said.

Pakistan Refinery topped the volume chart with 35.663 million shares. The refiner closed higher by Rs1.24 to Rs17.88 per share. Cnergyico PK was the second highest traded share with 19.647 million shares. It’s share value increased by 30 paisas to Rs5.59 per share.

Telecard Limited, Ghani Global Holdings, TPL Properties, WorldCall Telecom, PTCL, Silk Bank Ltd, Fauji Foods Ltd, and TRG Pakistan Ltd also extended major volumetric support.