Weekly Market Roundup

August 10, 2024 (MLN): Pakistan stocks, in tandem with global markets, tumbled at the start of this week amid fears of a deeper US economic slowdown.

However, strong corporate results helped Pakistan stocks brush off earlier losses and end the week in green.

The benchmark KSE-100 Index closed at 78,570, an increase of 344 points or 0.4% WoW in both PKR and USD terms.

Throughout the week, KSE-100 traded in a range of 1,880 points, between a high of 78,823 (+597) and a low of 76,943 (-1,283) points.

PSX average traded volume was recorded at 492.62 million shares worth Rs20.63 billion, marking an increase of 37.7% WoW in the number of shares and 21.3% WoW in traded value.

Meanwhile, the PSX market capitalization increased by $406.16m or 1.1% to $37.65bn over the week. In PKR terms, market capitalization stood at Rs10.49 trillion.

The government conducted two auctions during the week, picking up Rs355bn through MTBs at lower yields, and Rs328bn through PIB-PFL auction.

The central bank slashed the cut-off yields for the T-Bills by 50 to 54 basis points across all tenors, strengthening expectations of further rate cuts.

Top Index Movers

The bulk of this week's rally was driven by Oil & Gas Exploration Companies (+614pts), with blockbuster earnings from index heavyweight Mari Petroleum.

The better-than-expected result from one of Pakistan’s largest E&P companies also lifted its peers. Best-performing stocks during the week were MARI (+447pts), OGDC (+109pts), UBL (+97pts), MEBL (+77pts), and SYS (+62pts).

Mari's stock soared 20.1% WoW to post its biggest weekly jump since December 2023.

Other sectors that contributed positively to the index were Technology & Communication (+84pts), Oil & Gas Marketing Companies (+51pts), Inv. Banks / Inv. Cos. / Securities Cos. (+31pts), and Food & Personal Care Products (+22pts).

On the flip side, the largest drags on the index were Fertilizer (-192pts), Power Generation & Distribution (-103pts), Refinery, (-33pts), Cement (-32pts), and Chemical (-23pts).

In terms of individual stocks, FFC, BAHL, HUBC, AKBL, and COLG collectively took away 552 points from the index.

FIPI/LIPI

Foreign investors were net buyers during the week, acquiring $1.41m worth of equities.

Flow-wise, Individuals were the dominant buyers, with a net investment of $3.35m.

They allocated the majority of their capital, $2.60m, to Oil and Gas Exploration Companies, while divesting from the Fertilizer sector, amounting to $1.77m in sales.

On the other hand, the leading sellers were Mutual Funds, with a net sale of $5.57m.

Their most substantial sales activity was in Oil and Gas Exploration Companies, amounting to $2.92m, while they acquired $0.48m of equities in the Power Generation and Distribution.

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