KARACHI: Stocks recorded a strong rebound on Thursday with the KSE-100 index up by 789.34 points (1.96 per cent) and closing seen at 41,071.30.

The index touched intra-day by 803 points with Rs119 billion added to the market capitalisation.

In the early morning as the market opened, the nail-biting finish to the US elections was far from over. The complaining Donald Trump was hosting a victory party while his opponent Biden was packing up to shift to the White House.

The global and regional markets gained stability. As for the PSX, a strategist at Arif Habib Ltd said: “empirical evidence suggests that the domestic bourse does to portray a very strong correlation with the outcome of the US elections”. That was also the opinion of vast number of market participants.

But it was altogether difficult to ignore the international trend and the PSX also moved in tandem with world and regional markets.

The investors’ confidence received boost from fleeting signs of economic recovery; the government’s efforts to resolve circular debt; the State Bank of Pakistan statistics released during the day showing growth of 20pc year-on-year in deposits and consistent recovery of the rupee against the dollar.

Rising international oil prices provided further support to the index heavyweight energy stocks. All that put into shade the worries over the rising pandemic cases as the government also commitment not to resort to lockdowns.

Major stocks on the exploration and production sector including Oil and Gas Development Company (OGDC), Pakistan Oilfields Ltd (POL) and Pakistan Petroleum Ltd (PPL) advanced. The three major refineries included Attock Refinery Ltd, National Refinery Ltd and Pakistan Refinery Ltd also gained. In the cement sector, Lucky, Cherat, Pioneer, Fauji, Maple Leaf and D.G. Khan cements were up on reports of higher despatches for October.

Foreign investors turned net buyers of equity worth $1.67bn. Individuals, companies and banks sold in varying amounts while mutual fund organisations, broker proprietary trading and insurance companies were buyers. Major scrips that lifted the index included PPL, up 60 points, MCB Bank Ltd 53 points, OGDC 51 points, Hub Power Company 41 points and POL 41 points.

Published in Dawn, November 6th, 2020