April 18, 2021 (MLN): The benchmark KSE-100 index witnessed a meager gain of 119 points during the departed week or up by 0.26% WoW as the index closed at 45,305 points.
The index remained range-bound throughout the week, on account of rising Covid infections and fatalities in Pakistan, forced NCOC to implement broader lockdowns on a national level which dented investors’ sentiments.
On the economic front, the factors that fueled investors’ sentiments include; an impressive $2.7 billion inflow of workers remittances in March’21 while the LSM index has grown 7.45% YoY during 8MFY21. Furthermore, banking deposits posted growth of 18% YoY during 1QCY21 while the auto sector reported record-high sales in March.
The other key events included upward revision of FY21 and FY22 growth targets by the government to 2.9% and 4.2% in the medium-term budget strategy paper and withdrawal of the customs duty applicable to cotton yarn imports by ECC.
Commercial Banks emerged as the top gainer during the week as they added 81 points to the index on the back of better result expectations and massive rise in industry deposits size. This was followed by Technology & Communication (+78pts), Fertilizer (+46pts), Auto Assembler (+25pts) and Oil & Gas Exploration Companies (+18pts). Scrip-wise positive contributors were TRG (+60pts), FFC (+60pts), BAHL (+22pts), EFERT (+21pts) and HBL (+20pts).
Meanwhile, the KSE All Share Market Cap decreased by Rs21.8 billion or 0.28% over the week, being recorded at Rs. 7.9 trillion as compared to a Market Cap of Rs.7.92 trillion recorded last week.
Figures released by NCCPL showed that foreigners remained net sellers during the week as they sold a net $0.99 million worth of stocks during the week with foreign corporates doing the bulk of selling amounting to $1.44 million.
On the domestic front, major buying was reported by Individuals ($9.77 million), Other organizations ($3.9 million), and Brokers ($0.97 million). Other significant transactions included $8.7 million, $2.3 million, and $1.99 million worth of stocks bought by Companies, Insurance Companies, and Mutual Funds respectively.
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