Pakistan stocks gain 1.1% on easing political tension

KARACHI: The Pakistan stocks continued the bullish run, closing the week with a gain of 1.1 per cent, as easing political tensions and rallying global equities lifted the market sentiment, dealers said.

Ahsan Mehanti at Arif Habib Corporation said that the bullish activity continued on surging global equities and Brent crude oil prices to over $85/barrel.

“[The] finance minister hints at over 5 per cent growth projections for FY22, strong financial results and investor expectations regarding [the] release of [the] next IMF tranche, amid resumption of $6 billion EFF, which played a catalytic role in the bullish close.”

The Pakistan Stock Exchange KSE-100 shares index gained 1.1 per cent, or 487.85 points, to close at 44,821.53 points. The KSE-30 shares index gained 1.03 per cent, or 178.45 points, to close at 17,521.47 points.

As many as 356 scrips were active, of which 226 advanced, 116 declined and 14 remained unchanged. The ready market volumes stood at 334.32 million shares, compared with the turnover of 388.59 million shares in the last trading session.

An analyst at Topline Securities said the KSE-100 shares Index extended its gain on Friday. “Major contribution to the index came from Pakistan Oilfields Limited (POL), MCB Bank Limited, Oil and Gas Development Company (OGDC), Systems Limited and Lucky Cement, as they cumulatively contributed 173 points to the index.”

Neelam Naz at the JS Global Capital said that healthy activity after long was witnessed in blue-chip stocks.“Looking ahead, the market needs to sustain its bullish momentum. Investors are advised to buy mainly blue-chip stocks on major dips across-the-board.”

The companies that reflected the highest gains included Nestle Pakistan, up Rs50 to close at Rs5,900/share; and Highnoon Laboratories, up Rs42.51 to close at Rs617.61/share.

The companies, which reflected the most losses included Wyeth Pakistan, down Rs83.25 to close at Rs1,597.75/share; and Pak Tobacco, down Rs47.17 to close at Rs1,102.5/share.

The highest volumes were witnessed in Service Fabrics with a turnover of 34.26 million shares. The scrip gained 77 paisas to close at Rs11.71/share; followed by Unity Foods with a turnover of 26.47 million shares. It gained Rs1.79 to close at Rs30.29/share. WorldCall Telecom remained the third with a turnover of 25.49 million shares. It shed four paisas to finish at Rs2.39.