KARACHI: The stock market snapped the eight-day losing streak on Monday when the KSE-100 Index staged a surprise comeback and powered past the 29,000 level, adding 797.79 points (2.8 per cent) to close at 29,562.42.

Although providing a major relief to the investors drowned in misery, sell side analysts cautioned that it was too early to tell if the market had managed to find a firm foothold or the recovery was merely cherry-picking by long-term value investors, of stocks across the board, now trading at heavy discounts.

“One swallow does not make a summer,” said a veteran, asking investors to hold their horses until it was clear that the robust rally was not merely a ‘’dead cat bounce phenomenon’’. With no cooling of tensions on the eastern border or a visible uptick in economy, investors put their bets on foreign long-term investors. The market may have been encouraged by the Securities and Exchange Commission approval of ‘’Murabaha Share Financing’’ that allows investment only in Shariah-compliant securities.

Equities took off to a positive start and remained bullish for most of the session, which saw the index touch intraday high and low by 845 and 94 points. The volume jumped 43pc over the previous day to 102m shares while traded value rose to $21m, from $23m.

Banking, oil and gas exploration and production and fertiliser sectors led the gainers with the addition of 257, 142 and 98 points, respectively. Heavy­­­weight Oil and Gas Development Company closed at the upper circuit while Pakistan Petroleum and Pakistan Oilfields also recorded gains on hike in international oil prices.

In the banking sector, Habib and MCB hit their upper locks while Bank Alfalah closed near upper limit on releasing better than expected 1HCY19 results. Cyclical cement sector also moved with the trend with Fauji, Maple Leaf and DG Khan closing at upper caps and Lucky mounting gains of 2.9pc.

Published in Dawn, August 20th, 2019