Pakistan bourse gains 228.41 points on banking sector valuation

KARACHI: The Pakistan stock market regained its lost momentum supported by technology and banking stocks, amid higher interest seen in the book building of Octopus Digital and attractive valuation in the banking sector, dealers said.

An analyst at Pearl Securities said technology and banking sectors cumulatively added 100 points in the index.

“Meanwhile, the yields in the T-bill auction held on Wednesday remained largely unchanged signaling any rate changes would be too early. Moreover, the banks’ deposits reached Rs19.2 trillion in August, up 18 per cent, while Pakistan expects $1 billion from the World Bank this month.”

The Pakistan Stock Exchange KSE-100 shares index gained 0.49 per cent, or 228.41 points, to close at 46,625.12 points. The KSE-30 shares index gained 0.26 per cent, or 48.05 points, to close at 18,607.68 points.

As many as 525 scrips were active, of which 252 advanced, 245 declined and 28 remained unchanged. The ready market volumes stood at 396.43 million shares, compared with the turnover of 477.8 million shares in the last trading session.

An analyst at Arif Habib Limited said the market moved up after downward adjustment was witnessed a day ago in the outcome of the MSCI reclassification of Pakistan from the Emerging Markets to the Frontier Markets.

“Technology, cement, O&GMCs, fertiliser sector stocks performed well. Steel and refinery sectors remained laggard today. The Octopus Digital scored high on the first day of its IPO [initial public offering], where the target quantity was met in the first 24 minutes after opening of the bidding session, whereas the total bid size against the issue size of 27.35 million shares crossed 6x on the first day. This helped AVN hit upper circuit, which is the parent company of Octopus Digital.”

Ahsan Mehanti at Arif Habib Corporation said that the stocks showed recovery on renewed institutional interest in the oversold oil and banking scrips.

“Reports on surging banking deposits, upbeat POL sales, speculations on the likely EU approval over GSP Plus status played a catalytic role in the bullish close.”

Going forward, analysts expect the market to remain volatile, while investors are advised to book profits at higher levels.

The companies, which reflected the highest gains included Nestle Pakistan, up Rs130.5 to close at Rs6,295/share; and Allawasaya Textile, up Rs87.5 to close at Rs1,254.21/share.

The companies that reflected the most losses included Gatron Industries, down Rs38.89 to close at Rs480.01/share; and Pakistan Tobacco, down Rs26.31 to close at Rs1,165.69/share.

The highest volumes were witnessed in Ghani Global with a turnover of 56.82 million shares. The scrip shed Rs3.44 to close at Rs44.95/share; followed by Telecard Limited with a turnover of 41.11 million shares. It shed 14 paisas to close at Rs22.97/share. WorldCall Telecom remained the third with a turnover of 20.38 million shares. It shed one paisa to finish at Rs3.33.