Weekly Market Roundup

March 20, 2022 (MLN): Weak macro-outlook and escalation in the country’s political uncertainty continued to mount pressure on the KSE-100 index over the week as the benchmark KSE100 index shed another 623 points or down by 1.43% this week and settled at 43,030 points level.

In terms of USD, the index declined by 2.55% from last week.

The market witnessed three bearish sessions and two bullish sessions throughout the week. The bourse commenced the week on a negative note despite oil prices undergoing a sharp decline from the highs seen in the previous week as enraging uncertainty at the political front dented investors' sentiments.

Further annoyance during the week was caused by rising commodity prices, implications of the Russia-Ukraine war, and PKR depreciation as it sank to an all-time low at 180.57, depreciating by 2.1 rupees WoW against the greenback.

From the sector-specific lens, oil & gas exploration, banks, technology, oil & gas marketing and cement sector kept the index in red territory as they took away 310, 127, 79, 42, and 39 points from the index respectively.

Contrary to that, fertilizer, food, leather & tanneries, sugar & allied industries, and real estate investment trust during the week collectively added 144 points to the bourse.

Scrip-wise, PPL, OGDC, TRG, HBL, and MCB were the worst-performing stocks during the week as they eroded 434 points from the index, whereas FFC, EFERT, BAHL, SYS, and HMB added 225 points to the index.

Meanwhile, the KSE All Share market cap decreased by Rs176 billion or 2.36% over the week, being recorded at Rs7.27 trillion as compared to a market cap of Rs7.45tr recorded last week.

Flow-wise, foreigners were the net sellers during the week, offloading stocks worth $4.9mn compared to a net sale of $3.13mn last week, largely backed by foreign corporations amounting to $5.25mn. Sector-wise, major selling was witnessed in banks ($6mn) and OMCs ($0.7mn).

On the local side, the majority of the buying was reported by banks, companies and insurance companies amounting to $4.4mn, $2.9mn, and $2mn, respectively. However, individuals and brokers stood on the other side with net selling of $3.1mn and $1.7mn respectively.

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