Stocks extend gains on bullish outlook
KARACHI: Sharp deceleration in inflation boosted expectations of a third cut in interest rate next month, encouraging investors to continue their buying spree amid an improved economic outlook in the last session of August.
Citing positive factors for a bull run, Ahsan Mehanti of Arif Habib Corporation said investors weighed the government’s deliberation over the privatisation of state-owned enterprises, speculations of single-digit CPI-based inflation in August and Moody’s rating upgrade.
He added that the bull run in global equities, the government’s affirmation of a reduction in power tariff by next year, and expectations of resolving external financing gaps also contributed to the positive close.
As a result, the KSE-100 index hit an intraday high of 78,914.28 and a low of 78,439.62. However, it settled at 78,488.22 after gaining 138.55 points or 0.18pc day-on-day.
Major positive contributions to the index came from Engro Fertiliser, Millat Tractors Ltd, Fauji Fertiliser, National Bank of Pakistan and United Bank Ltd, which cumulatively added 239 points.
Conversely, Hub Power, Habib Bank, Bank Al-Habib, Pakistan Petroleum, and Bank Al-Falah lost value, losing 141 points.
The trading volume was up 13.50pc to 680.81 million shares. The traded value also rose 3.81pc to Rs21.18bn day-on-day.
Stocks contributing significantly to the traded volume included Hascol Petroleum (63.10m shares), Kohinoor Spinning Mills Ltd (44.63m shares), Symmetry Group (38.68m shares), National Bank of Pakistan (21.61m shares) and Power Cement (20.91m shares).
The shares registering the most significant increases in their prices in absolute terms were Hallmark Company Ltd (Rs73.27), Rafhan Maize (Rs55.47), Hoechst Pakistan (Rs53.34), Colgate-Palmolive (Rs45.31) and Pakistan Engineering Company Ltd (Rs39.74).
The companies registering significant losses in their share prices in absolute terms were Unilever Foods (Rs82.09), Sapphire Fibres (Rs69.43),
Sapphire Textile (Rs63.89), Abbott Laboratories (Rs25.24) and Exide Pakistan (Rs20.35).
Foreign investors remained net buyers as they picked shares worth $2.03m.
Published in Dawn, August 31st, 2024