Market watch: KSE-100 continues ascent, crosses 45,000

The stock market maintained its upward ride for the second successive session on Monday as it followed developments in domestic, regional and international arenas. The benchmark KSE-100 index again rose past the 45,000-point mark.

Encouraging current account data, which showed a contraction of 75% in deficit that stood at just $50 million in February 2021, triggered a buying spree.

Taking cue from stability in international crude oil prices, market participants made new investment in exploration and production stocks, which aided the uptrend.

Moreover, investors welcomed the decision by the State Bank of Pakistan (SBP) to maintain status quo in the monetary policy for the next two months.

At close, the benchmark KSE-100 index recorded an increase of 506.02 points, or 1.13%, to settle at 45,407.33 points.

Arif Habib Limited, in its report, stated that the market went down by 165 points earlier in the session, which was the result of a mild selling pressure across the board. “A short rollover week and an outstanding amount of Rs38.8b at the start of the week caused some jitters,” it said.

However, the reversal in energy chain stocks (exploration and production, refinery, oil and gas marketing and power) caused rebound in the KSE-100 index with a total increase of 564 points.

The report added that expectations about resolution of the gas-related circular debt issue helped the energy chain to recover lost ground.

Among major contributors, Oil and Gas Development Company, Pakistan Petroleum and Hascol Petroleum hit their upper circuits during the session, whereas Pakistan State Oil and Hubco also contributed to the positivity. Similarly, refinery sector stocks performed well.

Sectors contributing to the performance included exploration and production (+236 points), oil and gas marketing (+88 points), technology (+78 points), power (+44 points) and fertiliser (+43 points).

Individually, stocks that contributed positively to the index included Oil and Gas Development Company (+111 points), Pakistan Petroleum (+101 points), TRG Pakistan (+44 points), Pakistan State Oil (+44 points) and Hubco (+41 points).

Stocks that contributed negatively were Adamjee Insurance Company (-12 points), MCB Bank (-11 points), Bank Alfalah (-10 points), Pioneer Cement (-10 points) and NBP (-10 points).

Overall trading volumes dropped to 440.99 million shares compared with Friday’s tally of 484.6 million. The value of shares traded during the day was Rs22.1 billion.

Shares of 404 companies were traded. At the end of the day, 175 stocks closed higher, 213 declined and 16 remained unchanged.

Byco Petroleum was the volume leader with 68.7 million shares, gaining Rs0.1 to close at Rs11.14. It was followed by Pakistan Refinery with 40.9 million shares, gaining Rs1.26 to close at Rs26.57 and Hascol Petroleum with 38.6 million shares, gaining Re1 to close at Rs11.48.

Foreign institutional investors were net sellers of Rs324.9 million worth of shares during the trading session, according to data compiled by the National Clearing Company of Pakistan.