October 17, 2021 (MLN): Following four weeks of negative close, the benchmark KSE-100 index closed this week in green as it gained 344 points (0.77%) over last Friday to settle at 44,821 points.
During the early part of the week, investors resorted to panic selling mainly on the decision on waiving off the 10-Year tax holiday on refineries along with the hike in electricity prices by Rs1.68/unit. Furthermore, lack of clarity on the continuation of the IMF package as well as delay in the process to appoint a new Director-General of the ISI (DG ISI) also caused the KSE100 index to mark an intra-week low of 43,042 index level.
However, with Finance Minister assuring that the government would soon address concerns of the global lender and resume the IMF’s EFF, as well as PM’s statement allaying any rumours of a military-political divide, and the likelihood of civil-military leadership reaching consensus over the appointment of new ISI chief, the KSE-100 index posted two swift back-to-back bull runs, a report by Arif Habib Limited highlighted.
From a sector-specific lens, Commercial Banks emerged as the outperformers during the week amid the increased likelihood of further rate hikes in the upcoming MPS, adding 393 points to the index during the week, followed by Oil & Gas Exploration Companies (136 pts), Cement (98 pts), Fertilizer (90 pts) and Pharmaceuticals (28 pts).
The positive contribution from Cement is attributable likely hike in Cement prices of PKR25-PKR30/bag in the midst of historical high international coal prices.
The sectors that contributed negatively included Technology & Communication (-342 pts), Food & Personal Care Products (-50 pts), Automobile Assembler (-29 pts), and Tobacco (-27 pts).
Scrip-wise major gainers were HBL (153 pts), PPL (87 pts), UBL (67 pts), LUCK (59 pts) and OGDC (42 pts) Whereas major laggards were TRG (-260 pts), SYS (-70 pts) and PAKT (-27 pts).
Meanwhile, the KSE All Share Market Cap increased by a Rs8.66billion or 0.11% over the week, being recorded at Rs7.79trillion as compared to a Market Cap of Rs7.78tr recorded last week.
Flow-wise, foreign investors remained net sellers during the week with an outflow of $13.3mn against an outflow of $3.7mn last week. The major selling was done by Foreign Corporates amounting to a net $35.38mn. Sector-wise, major selling was witnessed in Fertilizer Sectors ($12.1mn), Commercial Banks ($7.8mn) and Cement ($3.11mn)
On the local side, major buying was reported by Insurance Companies ($12.2mn) followed by Mutual Funds ($3.4mn), and Other Organizations ($2.53mn). Other significant transactions included $3.35mn and $3.27mn worth of stocks sold by local Companies and Individuals respectively.
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