KARACHI: The equity market saw bulls on a rampage for all of the four trading sessions during the previous week. The KSE-100 index gained 1,180 points (3.8 per cent) to close at 32,479.
The market responded positively to status quo on the monetary policy by the SBP.
The results season also managed to boost investor interest in stocks which seemed at attractive valuations following the dip in January. The market witnessed buyers’ rejuvenated interest in the heavyweight banking and oil and gas stocks.
Activity picked up during the week, represented by the increase in average daily volume by 24pc to 144.3 million shares and average daily value up by 22pc to Rs8.5 billion.
Analysts at Arif Habib Ltd pointed out that PSX remained immune to the downturn in some international markets on the back of weak US data leading to a dip in the value of dollar.
Rally at the local bourse was led by banks (HBL, UBL, and MCB) largely due to the SBP’s status quo in the latest monetary policy coupled with the anticipation of robust corporate results; while some scrips attracted investor interest based on their positive outlook (such as PSO).
In contrast, the unpredictability in crude prices continued to cause E&P scrips to change hands in haste, AHL analysts said.
Dealers at Topline Securities worked out that the commercial banks, financial services and pharma and biotech sectors saw price gains by 7.2pc, 4.8pc and 4.6pc, while the beverages, tobacco and forestry sectors were down 7.8pc, 7.4pc and 3pc, respectively.
Stock strategists at KASB Securities said that the market performance during the week improved following materialisation of key triggers that the investors were waiting for. Those included a rebound in global oil prices and improvement in foreign investor portfolio investment (FIPI).
“Although FIPI was negative, net outflow at $2.16m was a respite over $7m recorded the previous week,” analysts observed.
Cement sector witnessed major net foreign inflow of $6m. On a week-on-week basis, scrips that led the bourse included: HCAR (13.81pc), HBL (12.30pc), BAFL (11.50pc), SHEL (8.59pc) and UBL (7.57pc), while laggards were: MTL (0.54pc), SSGC (0.30pc), DGKC (0.30pc) NML (0.13pc) and FFC (0.06pc), according to a report by AKD Securities.
Published in Dawn, February 7th, 2016
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