KARACHI: Bulls staged a grand rally on Tuesday which saw the KSE-100 index clock in huge gains of 490 points (1.23 per cent) as it again roared past the 40,000 level and settled at 40,293. Market capitalisation rose by Rs89 billion.

The opening was positive and the index raced up to intraday high by 538 points, with investors’ excitement was underpinned by expectation of rebound in economy as the current account turned surplus in July for third time since Oct’19.

Moreover, the smooth rollover week and the foreign investors’ net purchases of stocks worth $2.36 million also encouraged locals to buy. Besides the foreigners, mutual funds were major buyers.

The volume increased 44pc to 535.1m shares, from 371.7m while traded value also rose by 36pc to reach $120.8m. Stocks that contributed significantly included Hascol Petroleum, Unity R2, TRG, Pakistan Refinery and Power Cement R1, which formed 31pc of total volume.

Cement sector contributed positively on the back of higher despatches in August. Banking stocks advanced, followed by exploration and production, oil marketing companies, fertilisers, refinery and steel.

E&P saw all three major stocks - Pakistan Petroleum, Pakistan Oilfields and Oil and Gas Development Company - close in positive. OMCs continued to rise with two upper circuits back-to-back in Shell. Cement sector topped the volumes with 88m shares.

Topline Securities observed that the rollover in the market was proceeding smoothly as Rs2bn had been rolled over from August contract to September where Monday’s future open position for the former at Rs11.3bn and latter at Rs2.7bn. MTS was Rs6.64bn at an average rate of 10.57pc as of a day ago.

Sectors contributing to the index rise included banks, higher by 93 points, E&P 91 points, power 56 points, chemical 41 points and O&GMCs 39 points. Among scrips, major gainers were Mari Petroleum, up 3.2pc, Hub Power 2.9pc, Habib Bank 1.7pc, United Bank 2.1pc, OGDC 1.5pc and POL 1.9pc.

Published in Dawn, August 26th, 2020