Pakistan equity market gains 430 points on ease in Afghan tensions

KARACHI: The Pakistan stocks ended the week by gaining 430 points, as the news of Taliban taking control over Afghanistan, Pak-Afghan trade picking up and reduction in Customs duties on 159 items in Afghanistan, including cement and steels lifted the market sentiment, dealers said.

Ahsan Mehanti at Arif Habib Corp said that the stocks recovered sharply, led by blue-chip auto, energy and cement scrips on strong earnings and easing concerns over the border and trade tensions with Afghanistan.

“[The] oil stocks battered on slump in [the] global crude oil prices. However, strong remittances and positive economic outlook ahead of unconditional release of $2.8 billion IMF [International Monetary Fund] tranche next week played a catalytic role in the bullish close.”

The Pakistan Stock Exchange (PSX) KSE-100 shares index gained 0.72 per cent, or 341.37 points, to close at 47,599.82 points. The KSE-30 shares index gained 0.9 per cent, or 170.76 points, to close at 19,103.04 points.

As many as 464 scrips were active, of which 298 advanced, 139 declined and 27 remained unchanged. The ready market volumes stood at 299.13 million shares, compared with the turnover of 246.07 million shares in the last trading session.

Neelam Naz at JS Global Capital said that following a decent upside rally, the KSE-100 closed near its intraday high. “[The] major activity was witnessed in the cement sector due to [the] news of price increase in the South region. On the results front, Lotte Chemical (down 2.3 per cent) announced its six-month results, posting per share earnings of Rs1.72.”

An analyst at Arif Habib Limited said the market added another 341 points during the Friday session, after gaining traction earlier in the week.\

“Relative stability in Afghanistan helped investors gain confidence, especially the decision to drop Customs duty on different items that will particularly improve dispatches for the cement sector.”

The companies that reflected the highest gains included Unilever Foods, up Rs299.99 to close at Rs17,299.99/share; and Bata Pakistan, up Rs121.98 to close at Rs1,748.41/share.

The companies, which reflected the most losses included Rafhan Maize, down Rs300 to close at Rs9,700/share; and Wyeth Pakistan, down Rs129.46 to end at Rs1,596.77/share.

The highest volumes were witnessed in Ghani Global with a turnover of 21.63 million shares. The scrip gained Rs1.92 to close at Rs46.93/share; followed by Byco Petroleum with a turnover of 18.85 million shares. It gained 17 paisas to close at Rs9.92/share. TPL Corp was the third with a turnover of 10.35 million shares. It gained 25 paisas to finish at Rs22.06.

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