Weekly Market Roundup

January 24, 2021 (MLN): The KSE-100 index lost 62.96 points during the departed week and closed 45,868-mark i.e. nearly 0.14% percent lower than the closing of the previous week.

According to AKD Securities, lackluster news on macro levels led to profit taking during the outgoing week, offsetting the result season driven exuberance. Major news included hike in Discos’ unified base tariff by Rs. 1.95/KWh vs. proposal of PkR3.34/KWh; Rs200 billion impact calculated, indicating towards inflationary uptrend in upcoming months.

The decision to disconnect gas supply to captive power plants from Feb 01st and Mar 01st for industries and export oriented industries, respectively encouraging industries to shift towards grid electricity also had an impact on benchmark index’s performance.

Moreover, SBP kept policy rate unchanged at 7%, wherein MPC said the monetary policy settings shall remain unchanged in the near term as economy heads towards recovery phase, the report added.

The benchmark index was led down by the performance of Oil and Gas Exploration Companies, which snatched around 143 points to it. This was followed by Fertilizer, Oil and Gas Marketing, and Automobile Assembler which took away 44, 33, and 25 points, respectively.

Company-wise, the scrips of PPL, OGDC, POL, ENGRO and MCB closed the week in the red zone, as they lost 65, 59, 59, 31, and 22 points, respectively.

Meanwhile, the KSE All Share Market Cap decreased by $87.70 million or 0.17% over the week, being recorded at $51.72 billion as compared to a Market Cap of $50.81 billion recorded last week.

Figures released by NCCPL showed that foreign investors purchased USD 5.5 million worth of stocks during the week with Overseas Pakistanis doing the bulk of the purchasing @ USD 6.99 million. On the local front, Individual Investors bought USD 15.47 million worth of stocks. Excessive selling was witnessed locally as well as Mutual Funds sold stocks worth USD 19.89 million.

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