Stocks rally 976 points on economic optimism
KARACHI: The stock market on Monday staged a robust rally recovering all the losses the benchmark index suffered in the last week as improved economic indicators boosted the investor confidence triggering aggressive buying at the dips.
The benchmark KSE-100 index recorded an increase of 976.01 points, or 2.18pc, to close at 45,682.77 points.
On the economic front, the country’s current account in 9MFY21 remained positive with a surplus of $959 million despite suffering a $47m deficit in March. Also foreign exchange inflows through the Roshan Digital Accounts crossed the $1 billion mark just in a little over seven months since the launch of this initiative was a reflection of an extraordinary response of overseas Pakistan.
Arif Habib Ltd, in its report, observed that financial results announced earlier in the day had failed to excite the market. However, the massive buying by mutual funds, despite the persistent selling witnessed in the past couple of sessions due to rising Covid cases, did boost the trading sentiments.
Aggressive buying was observed in OGDC, PPL and PSO, all of which hit upper circuits during the session although OGDC and PSO closed below the upper circuit. Similarly, buying was observed in Habib Bank and United Bank.
According to data of the National Clearing Company of Pakistan, mutual funds bought equities worth over $19.22 million, while all other segments were net sellers mainly led by individuals with selling stocks worth $9.26m, followed by companies $4.88m, foreign investors $3.46m and banks $2.87m.
Sectors contributing to the performance include E&P (239 points), banks (177 points), cement (99 points), fertiliser (87 points) and pharma (81 points).
The trading volume surged 70pc to 409m shares from 240.4m shares and the average traded value also increased by 103pc to reach $155.5m as against $76.6m the previous day. Telecard, TRG, Unity Modaraba, Silkbank and Ghani Global Ltd contributed 41pc to the total turnover.
Stocks that contributed positively to the index include OGDC (102 points), PPL (96 points), Hubco (78 points), TRG (60 points) and Lucky Cement (58 points).
Stocks that contributed negatively include PSMC (9 points), INIL (8 points), AICL (6 points), LOTCHEM (5 points) and KEL (5 points).
Published in Dawn, April 27th, 2021