KARACHI: The stock market remained bullish in the outgoing week as its benchmark index hit another all-time high of 57,397 points.

Arif Habib Ltd said the shares market maintained its bullish trend on the back of the staff-level agreement reached between Pakistan and the International Monetary Fund (IMF). The signing of the staff-level agreement paves the way for the disbursement of the second loan tranche amounting to $700 million, subject to the approval of the IMF’s Executive Board.

Furthermore, Roshan Digital Accounts’ inflows rose to $6.9 billion in October, up from $6.7bn in the preceding month. Cut-off yields for the three-, six- and 12-month treasury bills recorded a decrease of 45 basis points, 49 basis points and 50 basis points, respectively. This shows that the market expects a decline in interest rates going forward.

Additionally, foreign exchange reserves of the State Bank of Pakistan (SBP) decreased by $115 million week-on-week to $7.4bn. The rupee closed at 286.49 against the greenback after appreciating 0.18 per cent from a week ago.

As a result, the KSE-100 index closed at 57,063 points after gaining 1,671 points or 3pc on a weekly basis.

Sector-wise, positive contributions came from oil and gas exploration (394 points), oil and gas marketing (248 points), technology and communication (212 points), power generation and distribution (145 points) and food and personal care products (126 points).

Meanwhile, sectors that contributed negatively were commercial banking (79 points), cement (37 points) and refinery (seven points).

Scrip-wise, positive contributors were Pakistan Petroleum Ltd (201 points), Pakistan State Oil Company Ltd (161 points), Oil and Gas Development Company Ltd (145 points), Systems Ltd (108 points) and Millat Tractors Ltd (92 points).

Negative contributions were from Meezan Bank Ltd (72 points), Lucky Cement Ltd (63 points), Bank Alfalah Ltd (60 points), Rafhan Maize Products Company Ltd (25 points) and Cherat Cement Company Ltd (18 points).

Foreign buying clocked in at $8.2m versus a net purchase of $1.3m a week ago. Major buying was witnessed in power ($3.8m) and oil marketing ($2.7m) sectors. On the local front, selling was reported by banks ($9.1m) and insurance ($2.6m). The average daily volume arrived at 761m shares, up 40pc week-on-week. The average daily value traded settled at $82.5m, up 22pc from a week ago.

AKD Securities Ltd said it maintains a positive outlook on the stock market owing to favourable economic developments like declining inflation and expected monetary easing in the current fiscal year. “While the market is flourishing, we strongly advise participants to avoid potential pitfalls and instead concentrate on companies with robust fundamentals,” it added.

Published in Dawn, November 19th, 2023