KARACHI: Equity investors remained in the bullish mind of the frame on Thursday, indulging in cherry-picking, as slashing of yields on treasury bills (T-bills) and falling Kibor aided the benchmark index to extend its overnight rally.

Ahsan Mehanti of Arif Habib Corporation said stocks maintained a bullish tone after the government slashed returns on various tenors of T-bills by up to 148bps, boosting expectations of a third straight cut in the State Bank of Pakistan’s policy rate next month.

He said banking and fertiliser scrips outperformed on reports of surging fertiliser prices and banking deposits. The finance minister’s assurance of being fully engaged with IMF and moving in the right direction for securing the executive board’s approval for a $7bn Extended Fund Facility next month boosted investor sentiments.

Topline Securities said the Karachi interbank offered rates fell below 18pc after 19 months. “Kibor is coming down in anticipation of receding inflation numbers resulting in expectations for another cut in the SBP’s monetary policy meeting scheduled for Sep 12,” it noted.

Cement and steel sectors showed marked optimism as companies like Fauji Fertiliser, Service Industries, National Bank, PSO and Lucky Cement collectively contributed 355 points to the index’s rise. Conversely, profit-taking in Habib Bank, Engro Corporation, Millat Tractor, and Meezan Bank led to a deduction of 132 points.

The KSE-100 index maintained its upward trajectory, registering an intraday gain of 735 points before closing at 78,793.41, reflecting an increase of 523.56 or 0.68pc day-on-day.

The trading volume rose 45.55pc to 804.26 million shares. The traded value also rose by 16.34pc to Rs16.97bn on a day-on-day basis.

Stocks contributing significantly to the traded volume included WorldCall Telecom (140.9m shares), Kohinoor Spinning Ltd (91.35m shares), Power Cement (51.62m shares), Yousuf Weaving (27.77m shares) and Cnergyico PK (24.90m shares).

The shares registering the most significant increases in their share prices in absolute terms were Hoechst Pakistan Ltd (Rs97.89), Service Industries (Rs92.02), Rafhan Maize Products Company Ltd (Rs79.67), Nestle Pakistan (Rs53.68) and Ismail Industries Ltd (Rs46.26).

The companies registering significant decreases in their share prices in absolute terms were Sapphire Textile Mills Ltd (Rs35.01), Unilever Pakistan Foods Ltd (Rs19.46), Sazgar Engineering Works Ltd (Rs16.35), Indus Motor Company Ltd (Rs15.10) and Bata Pakistan (Rs13.80).

Foreign investors remained net sellers as they sold shares worth $0.29m.

Published in Dawn, August 23rd, 2024