KARACHI: Stocks rallied on Tuesday inspired by the upsurge in global oil and equities market which celebrated the big news of pharmaceutical firm Pfizer announcing the soon-to-be launched vaccine for Covid-19 with a success rate of 94 per cent.

The KSE-100 index settled with a gain of 369.01 points (0.90 per cent) at 41,153.05. The local market came back to life after a lacklustre trading a day ago.

However, investors who showed ‘irrational exuberance’ may have been trapped. Investors stared in amazement as the KSE-100 index opened with a gain of 700 points.

It sent the less initiated investors into frenzied buying across the sectors, but mainly in the pharmaceuticals where most scrips soon rose by around 4-5pc over the previous price. The index made to intra-day high by 813 points.

But then the market started to fall as fast as it had risen, wiping out half of the early day gains as the market reviewed its outlook on the rising Covid-19 cases and possibility of lockdowns. The sectors related to oil remained strong as international crude oil prices took a massive jump of 9pc day-on-day.

Buying activity was more pronounced in exploration and production stocks, followed by banks and oil & has marketing companies, whereas fertiliser went down by the close of session.

Analysts at JS Global stated that in the pharmaceuticals, GlaxoSmithKline, Ferozsons and AGP were the major gainers; among banks, United Bank Ltd (UBL), MCB Bank Ltd and Habib Bank Ltd edged higher. Meanwhile, Pakis­tan Oilfields Ltd (POL), Oil and Gas Development Com­pany (OGDC) and Pakistan Petroleum Ltd were the major movers from the E&P sector.

Overall, major scrips that carried the index upwards included UBL, PPL, OGDC, POL and Engro Corporation.

Foreign investors sold off shares worth $1.10 million as rupee continues to appreciate. Among local participants, companies and banks seized the opportunity to take profit while mutual funds accumulated shares valued at $4.14m at dips.

Volumes increased from 276.7m shares to 356.0m shares (up 29pc DoD). Traded value also increased by 59pc to reach $95.4m. Stocks that contributed significantly to the volumes include TRG Pakistan, Pakistan Refinery Ltd, Al-Shaheer Corporation, Unity Foods and Power Cement, which formed 33pc of total volumes.

Published in Dawn, November 11th, 2020